R.I.P., Ronald Seefred

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Rich Feldman
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Real name: Rich Feldman
Location: Santa Clara County, CA, USA

R.I.P., Ronald Seefred

Post by Rich Feldman »

Today's local newspaper brought me the sad news that Ronald Seefred has died.
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seefred-ronald.png (99.67 KiB) Viewed 4691 times
I knew Ron as a fellow "regular" at the electronics flea market. He'd been enjoying retirement after 40 years at SLAC, where he was a radiation safety expert and had authored papers about detectors. One of the last times we'd met, he told me about a recent consultation where he'd helped someone test a neutron detector using smoke detector parts and beryllium. Last month I found his business card & was about to email him about my own progress in that department.

Unfortunately but not unexpectedly, it made the front page with a headline that didn't mention his name.
seefreed.JPG
https://padailypost.com/2019/05/02/low- ... scientist/
Family members cleaning out the house found stuff like we would find in Richard Hull's shed. Called Public Safety; next thing you know, a city park and youth center are closed because of it. As if he'd kept a crate full of hand grenades, or a 500 pound bomb. On the bright side, the reporter wrote a lot about Ron's life and career; nothing negative at all.

Radioactivity collectors might consider leaving a few copies of a letter, telling loved ones whom to call, to take custody of the collections without a lot of brouhaha. In my case I should do that first about the mercury, and PCB-filled capacitors, and carbon tetrachloride household fire extinguishers. More common toxics, like my grandfather's unused DDT and chlordane, the officials probably see all the time.
Last edited by Rich Feldman on Sat May 04, 2019 4:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
All models are wrong; some models are useful. -- George Box
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Richard Hull
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Re: R.I.P., Ronald Seefreed

Post by Richard Hull »

A California based modification of one of Newtons laws. For every action there is an intense over reaction.

I am sorry to hear of your friend's passing.

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
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