Simpson JohnAlexander

American physicist and science educator who was deeply committed to educating the public and political leaders about science and its implications, most notably as a principal founder of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and a long-time member of the organizations Board of Sponsors. He is known for inventions such as the gas flow α-particle proportional counter (for measuring plutonium yields in the presence of high intensity fission products), and the neutron monitor, and for having several of the instruments he created launched into space. Simpson spent his career as an instructor and researcher for the University of Chicagos Enrico Fermi Institute and Department of Physics, where he conducted experiments in nuclear physics and with cosmic rays. His research continued up until a few weeks prior to his death. He died at age 83 on 31 August 2000 of pneumonia which he contracted in the hospital following a successful heart surgery. The year he died, his instruments in space had been sending data back for nearly 40 years. Link to Wikipedia biography Read less