Bernard Vonnegut (August 29, 1914 – April 25, 1997) was an American

atmospheric scientist Atmospheric science is the study of the Earth's atmosphere and its various inner-working physical processes. Meteorology includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics with a major focus on weather forecasting. Climatology is the study ...

credited with discovering that

silver iodide Silver iodide is an inorganic compound with the formula Ag I. The compound is a bright yellow solid, but samples almost always contain impurities of metallic silver that give a grey colouration. The silver contamination arises because some samp ...

could be used effectively in

cloud seeding Cloud seeding is a type of weather modification that aims to change the amount or type of precipitation, mitigate hail, or disperse fog. The usual objective is to increase rain or snow, either for its own sake or to prevent precipitation from ...

to produce snow and rain. He was the older brother of American novelist

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...

Early life

Vonnegut was born in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

to architect Kurt Vonnegut Sr (November 24, 1884 – October 1, 1957), a partner in the firm of Vonnegut, Wright & Yeager, and homemaker Edith Sophia Lieber (d. May 14, 1944). He was named after his grandfather, architect Bernard Vonnegut Sr, co-founder of the firm of Vonnegut & Bohn. He attended Park School in Indianapolis and earned a B.S. in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

(1936) and Ph.D. in

physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mech ...

(1939) from

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

."Biographical on Kurt Vonnegut, Sr."
Lake Maxinkuckee Its Intrigue History & Genealogy; Culver, Marshall, Indiana

Professional career

In 1945, Vonnegut started work at the General Electric Research Laboratory in

Schenectady, New York Schenectady ( ) is a City (New York), city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-most populo ...

. It was there, on November 14, 1946, that he discovered that silver iodide could be used as a nucleating agent to seed clouds. Seeding clouds involves inserting large quantities of a nucleating agent into clouds to facilitate the formation of

ice crystals Ice crystals are solid water (known as ice) in crystal structure, symmetrical shapes including hexagonal crystal family, hexagonal columns, hexagonal plates, and dendrite (crystal), dendritic crystals. Ice crystals are responsible for various at ...

. The intent of this process is to cause the clouds to produce rain or snow. Rain- and snow-making companies still use silver iodide as a nucleating agent in seeding clouds. Vonnegut left

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

in 1952, taking a job at Arthur D. Little, Inc. In 1967, Vonnegut became a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University at Albany, The State University of New York. He was named a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

upon his retirement in 1985. In the course of his career Vonnegut accumulated 28

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

s. He was awarded an

Ig Nobel Prize The Ig Nobel Prize () is a satirical prize awarded annually since 1991 to promote public engagement with scientific research. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name of the award is a ...

in 1997 for his paper "Chicken Plucking as Measure of Tornado Wind Speed."

Personal life

He was married to Lois Bowler Vonnegut, with whom he had five sons. She died in 1972. He died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

on April 25, 1997, at St. Peter's Hospital in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

. His brother,

, alluded to Bernard's work in some of his works, most famously in ''

Cat's Cradle ''Cat's Cradle'' is a satirical postmodern novel, with science fiction elements, by American writer Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut's fourth novel, it was first published on March 18, 1963, exploring and satirizing issues of science, technology, the p ...

''.

References

External links

Genealogical Biography with photo

''The New York Times'', April 27, 1997 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vonnegut, Bernard 1914 births 1997 deaths 20th-century American chemists American meteorologists Vonnegut family Scientists from Schenectady, New York University at Albany, SUNY faculty Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni Atmospheric chemists Park Tudor School alumni Scientists from Indiana People from Indianapolis Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Ig Nobel laureates