Nathan Whetten

Nathan Rey Whetten Ballston Lake - N. Rey Whetten, PhD, passed away peacefully at home at the age of 95 on the afternoon of May 21st, surrounded by his family in Carrboro, North Carolina, following an extended illness.
Rey was born in Provo, UT and attended high school in Mexico City. After obtaining BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Physics from Yale University, he was granted 33 patents and published 45 scientific papers during his 39 year long career at the GE Research and Development lab in Schenectady, NY. There, he invented a high pressure Xenon detector, which was the first X-ray detector array for GE's CT scanner and which has saved countless lives and prevented unnecessary surgeries. This concept is now being used to detect ionizing nuclear radiation such as the elusive particles thought to be associated with dark matter and inspecting for the radiation emitted by radioactive materials.
Additionally, he pioneered work in secondary electron emission, mass spectrometry, and Auger Electron Spectroscopy. Rey's deep involvement in the American Vacuum Society (AVS) had him serving as its director, treasurer, and president, as well as Counselor to the International Union for Vacuum, Science, Technique and Applications (IUVSTA).
He further served as the society's first Technical Director, holding that position for 8 years after retiring from GE.
Rey particularly loved being outdoors! Whether hiking and camping with family and friends, bicycling, boating or skiing, he was always up for an outdoor adventure.
While in graduate school at Cosmic Rays at the Climax Observatory near Leadville, CO, he responded to an ad in a diner which offered to teach skiing and first aid to people who would work on Ski Patrol. He met the love of his life, Gini, who had joined ski patrol at Mohawk Mountain in Connecticut after responding to a similar advertisement at her university. They served for more than 20 years on ski patrol and loved skiing well into their 80s. Rey was a "46er" more than twice over, climbing the 46 mountains in New York State taller than 4000 feet. Despite rain on most climbs, Rey climbed all 46 first with colleagues, and then all over again with his three children.
A celebration of Rey's life was held in Arcadia on May 31, attended by family, friends, and neighbors. In more recent decades, Rey and Gini enjoyed traveling the world together. They strived to engage meaningfully with and offer assistance to the people they encountered. As a member of the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, NY Rotary Club, Rey wrote grants that provided access to medical care in low resource areas. One grant provided cataract surgery for 360 people in Bangladesh. Another helped young farmers in the Philippines diversify crops to improve their income. Rey was also glad to be able to support the purchase and donation of high-end refurbished medical instruments for the Muchila Health Center, which is a disease prevention and treatment facility for mothers and children in Zambia.
Rey is survived by his wife Gini, children Kate (m. Heather), Nate (m. Cindy), and Tim (m. Sue), his brother John (m. Carol), grandchildren Bryan, Elena, Keith (m. Kate), Leah (m. Evan), Meghan (m. Paul), Rebecca (m. Ryan), Sean, Tricia (m. Mike), and great grandchildren Ben, Bodhi, Brooke, Hunter, Kaia, Maeve, Penelope and Wallace, and his Rwandan family, Uwimana, Innocent (m. Fanny) and Tayah.
Donations may be made in his honor to Rotary International at https://my.rotary.org/en/donate and Duke Hospice Home, 4321 Medical Park Drive, Durham, NC 27704-2175.