In this oral history, conducted in 1999, Dr. Raymond L. Murray talks about the following topics: his education and early work at Oak Ridge during World War II, the first nuclear reactor at NC State (design, construction, and safety), early experiments and nuclear engineering research using the reactor, development of the nuclear ...
MoreIn this oral history, conducted in 1999, Dr. Raymond L. Murray talks about the following topics: his education and early work at Oak Ridge during World War II, the first nuclear reactor at NC State (design, construction, and safety), early experiments and nuclear engineering research using the reactor, development of the nuclear engineering program at NC State, colleagues (especially Clifford Beck and Arthur Menius), ideas people had in the 1950s and 1960s on the use of nuclear energy, and his own contribution to the field of nuclear engineering. He also postulates on the future of nuclear energy from a perspective in the 1990s. The interviewer was Andrea Gabriel, at the time Acting Head of NC State University's Design Library. The collection consists of a CD and digital video cassettes that contain video of the oral history, as well as a printed transcript of the interview. Raymond Leroy Murray was born on February 14, 1920, in Lincoln, Nebraska and died on June 22, 2011, in Raleigh, North Carolina. He received his B.S. in education, 1940, and M.S. in physics and mathematics, 1941, from the University of Nebraska, and his Ph.D in physics from the University of Tennessee, 1950. That same year he joined the new nuclear engineering program at North Carolina State College (later University) as a physics professor. He was a key figure in establishing and operating NC State University's nuclear reactor, which was the first operated on a college campus. In 1957 he was named Burlington Professor of Physics, and from 1963 to 1974 he headed the Department of Nuclear Engineering.
Less