ALBERT MACCAVOR CLOGSTON

ALBERT MACCAVOR CLOGSTON (1917 - 2013) Albert MacCavor Clogston, age 95, passed away peacefully at Hospice of Wake County in Raleigh, NC, on January 14, 2013. Al was born to the Alice Louise and Luman Geoffrey Clogston on July 13, 1917, in Boston, MA. He was preceded in death by his mother and father, both in 1980 and his beloved wife of 71 years, Molly Wyland Clogston, in 2012. Al leaves behind two very sad daughters: Nancy L. Harris of Fountain Hills, Arizona, and Carole S. Gailor of Raleigh, North Carolina, and their husbands, Steven E. Harris and Frank R. Gailor. Al had three grandsons: Peter Petersen and his wife, Terry, of Fullerton, California, Thomas A. Petersen of San Jose, California and Scott T. Holman and his wife Katherine of Kannapolis, North Carolina and four great-grandchildren: Peter Thomas Petersen, Kelly Louise Petersen, Nicholas James Holman and Samantha Erin Holman. Al attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he received a B.S. degree in physics in 1938 and his PhD degree in physics in 1941. Al met his wife, Molly, through her friendship with his cousin Betty, her college roommate at Barnard. Molly and Al were married by her father, the Rev. Ben F. Wyland, on September 6, 1941 in Brooklyn, NY. During the years of World War II, Al and Molly lived in Cambridge, MA while Al worked at MIT's Radiation Laboratory (Rad Lab). During those years, the Radiation Laboratory made stunning contributions to the development of microwave radar technology in support of the war effort. Inventions included airborne bombing radars, shipboard search radars, harbor and coastal defense radars, gun-laying radars, ground-controlled approach radars for aircraft blind landing, interrogate-friend-or-foe beacon systems, and the long-range navigation (LORAN) system. Some of the most critical contributions of the Radiation Laboratory were the microwave early-warning (MEW) radars, which effectively nullified the V-1 threat to London, and air-to-surface vessel (ASV) radars, which turned the tide on the U-boat threat to Allied shipping. In 1946 Al joined Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey. Molly and Al lived in Morris Plains, Mendham and Madison NJ while Al worked at Bell Labs for the next 36 years. His early research interests included the physics of electron tube devices such as magnetrons and traveling wave tubes. His later work included research in solid state physics, magnetism and superconductivity. In 1965 he became director of the Physical Research Laboratory at Bell Labs and in 1971 was named Vice-President for Research at Sandia Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a subsidiary of Western Electric. He returned to Bell Laboratories in 1973. Al was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1973 for his work in applied physical sciences and served on the governing board of the National Research Council. His primary areas of research were condensed matter physics including magnetism; superconductivity; semiconductors; nuclear magnetic resonance theory; optical properties of solids; and non-linear vibrational quantum mechanical thermodynamic excitations of solids. After retiring from Bell Laboratories, Al and Molly built a house in Tesuque, New Mexico and moved there in 1982. Al "unretired" and worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for 10 years as Chairman of the Center for Materials Science. Molly and Al enjoyed the beauty of Santa Fe and the many friends they had in the area until eventually declining health dictated they move back to the East Coast to be near their daughter Carole and her family in Raleigh, NC in 2000. Al continued his scientific research well into his 90's actively carrying out theoretical research on soliton lifetime and propagation along long chain molecules. In addition to his theoretical research, Al was an inventor with many patents in the area of physical sciences. The family extends many thanks and gratitude to nurses and staff of Hospice of Wake County who cared for Al with dignity and compassion in his final days.