Eugene Arment Eschbach

Eugene Arment ESCHBACH Eugene Arment Eschbach, a pioneer innovator and inventor with nearly 50 patents in electrical, mechanical, and nuclear engineering and internationally recognized Fellow of the American Nuclear Society died on June 16, 2009 at Hope Village Retirement Center near Portland, Oregon. He was 86 years old. The cause was complications from pneumonia. He had been in declining health for several years. He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Patricia Schacht Eschbach, in 2004. They married in 1952 and had six children born and raised in Richland, Washington. Eugene (Gene) was born April 20, 1923 at a homesteading pioneer ranch near Naches, Washington. Gene was a member of one of the founding Yakima Valley families of the 1800s. He was the middle child of nine children born to Edward Arment Eschbach and Irene Sandmeyer Eschbach. His birthplace was a pioneer's log cabin without electricity or running water. As a youngster he avidly embraced education and the power of science and technology for useful solutions to mans' problems. He was encouraged by his teachers in the small rural schools of Naches to pursue his interests. Although his father had only a 6th grade education and his mother a high-school education, they supported him in his pursuits. Early on, the science and engineering of electricity and energy were his passion. As a teenager he built the audio system for the dance hall at his family's 1930s recreation destination, Eschbach Park, located on a corner of the homestead ranch. He completed a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering at Washington State University where he was coached by some of the fledgling industry pioneers like Clarence Zener and Homer Dana. As an undergraduate, he helped solve one of the most important radio problems of the day - that of airplanes causing radio noise to their own communications as they flew through the air. This solution was key to an effective air force during World War II. He submitted numerous corrections to the radio textbook series of the electrical engineering titan, Frederick Terman at Stanford University. During World War II he worked at the RCA Laboratories in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York and did graduate work in physics at Princeton University. He was enthralled by work on the cutting edge issues of the day - radio communications with submarines, radar, television, computers, and solid-state electronics. While at RCA he was mentored by another industry great, Dr. Lloyd Garner. Garner often took his young protégés to New York City to enjoy fine food, and music at Carnegie Hall. Gene said that his love of piano music was kindled by piano concerts at Carnegie Hall where it is alleged that Garner himself was one of the four hands along with Vladimir Horowitz and others in piano performances. At RCA, Gene learned a formative life lesson when he witnessed the crushing of the brilliant inventor of FM radio by the founding RCA mogul, who saw FM as a threat to RCA's AM radio dominance. From then on, Gene saw his role as an inventor as often struggling against the inertia and ignorance of outdated convention. The lure of a newer and more exciting science at the beginning of the Atomic Age caused Gene to move from RCA to the General Electric Labs in the late 1940s. His work at GE's Hanford Atomic Works in Richland, Washington was supposed to be a temporary assignment; instead he stayed for nearly 50 years. He solved fundamental problems like fuel-rod expansion in atomic piles, deuterium production, and fuel cycle analysis to optimally load and operate nuclear reactors. Gene was guided by the motto "scientia est verum quod vox" (knowledge is truth and power). When asked why he did not play golf or join fraternal organizations like many other suburban fathers of the 1950s and 60s, he said his life was more than full with his family and work. When he was absent at the birth of one of his six children, the crusty old OB asked, "Where is Gene?" Mary replied, "He's in Washington, DC meeting with Admiral Hyman Rickover, designing the future of the nuclear Navy."The OB's only response was, "Who the hell is Rickover?" He loved to travel with his family and particularly enjoyed living in Europe in 1970-71 experiencing different cultures, histories, and foods. He enjoyed torturing his children (who were mostly capable in working French) by his assertion that since he learned Latin in high school, "French should be no problem": Pommes Frites (French fries) becoming "Pommus Fritas" as his favorite gastronomic and linguistic machination, to his kids' horror. When asked about his fondness for driving large black Cadillacs, he responded, "the whole family can comfortably go on a trip, pulling a travel trailer, and not be slowed down by steep hills and strong headwinds". He was quietly proud that he allegedly held amongst his co-workers the unofficial record for driving his Cadillac from Richland to Battelle's offices in Seattle (250+ miles) in well under three hours. It was a time of deserted roads and no radar. Gene retired from Hanford (now the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory operated by the Battelle Memorial Institute) in 1995. He moved with his wife Mary to the Portland, Oregon area to be closer to family in 2000. Even in retirement he remained active intellectually. He worked on several projects to help with the re-organization of the USSR's nuclear arsenal as the Cold War wound down at the end of the 20th century. He pioneered with the science department at Richland High School a materials science class that is now recognized in the Pacific Northwest as a key enabler for budding young material scientists. He will be remembered for his intellectual curiosity, dedication to family, and wonderful sense of humor. He implicitly endorsed many teenage hare-brainedideas and actions if they were positioned by the wily perpetrators as "scientific experiments"; his sardonic admonishment was always, "don't burn the house down and don't wake your mother." He was accommodating to diversity of thoughts and actions by all, well before it was fashionable. He often said that, "Everyone has the right to stir in his own puddle of mud as long as he is not splashing others." It was a very large umbrella for all. He is survived by his six children (Joseph, Mary, Elizabeth, Catherine, Eugenie, and Peter) plus eight grandchildren. He was a brilliant and guiding light who will be missed but not forgotten by his family and friends. In memory of Gene, donations are suggested in his name to the Washington State University Foundation.