George Samuel Hurst

{{Short description|American health physicist and patent hoarder}}

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{{Infobox scientist

| name = George Samuel Hurst

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| birth_date = {{birth date |1927|10|13}}

| birth_place = Ponza, Bell County, Kentucky, US

| death_date = {{death date and age |2010|07|04 |1927|10|13}}

| death_place = Knoxville, Tennessee, US

| resting_place = Oak Ridge Memorial Park

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| fields = Health physics

| workplaces = Oak Ridge National Laboratory
University of Kentucky
Florida State University

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| alma_mater = Bell County High School
Pineville, Kentucky
Berea College
University of Kentucky
University of Tennessee

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| awards = IR-100 Award

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| spouse = Betty Partin Hurst

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| children = 2

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George Samuel Hurst (13 October 1927 – 4 July 2010) was a health physicist and professor of Physics at the University of Kentucky.

Early life

Hurst was born on 13 October 1927, in the rural town of Ponza, Bell County, Kentucky located near Pineville, Kentucky. His father was James H. Hurst and his mother was Myrtle Wright Hurst.Kentucky, Vital Record Indexes, 1911–1999. Database, FamilySearch. George S Hurst, 13 October 1927. Citing Birth, Bell, Kentucky, United States. Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives. Frankfort, KY. As a boy, he had a keen interest in Thomas Edison. Hurst grew up on a family farm and came from a large family with two brothers and two sisters. In 2010, he died of a brain aneurysm and was buried at Oak Ridge Memorial Park.Editor. (6 July 2010). George Samuel Hurst. Oakridger. Oak Ridge, TN.

Education

Hurst attended high school at Bell County High School in Pineville, Kentucky. At the age of 15, he enrolled in Berea College. In 1947, Hurst received a B.A. degree in physics and a minor in mathematics from Berea College.Ellis, Normandi. (Spring 2007). Sam Hurst touches on a Few Great Ideas. Berea College Magazine. Berea College. Berea, KY. 77(4): 22-27. He attended the University of Kentucky and graduated in 1948 with an M.S. degree in physics. During registration in UK, he met Rufus Ritchie. Ritchie became a longtime friend and the two worked on several projects together. After graduation, they both went to ORNL.

In 1959, Hurst was awarded a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Tennessee with a dissertation titled "Attachment of Low-Energy Electrons in Mixtures Containing Oxygen."

Work

In 1948, Hurst was recruited by Karl Z. Morgan and landed a research position at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in the Health Physics Division. His starting salary was $325 per month. He made significant contributions in the development of radiation detectors and instrumentation, neutron dosimetry and spectroscopy, and field sample analysis. While working at Oak Ridge, he earned a PhD in physics from the University of Tennessee in 1959. In 1966, Hurst accepted a position at the University of Kentucky as professor of physics.Auxier, John A. (July 2010). In Memoriam: George Samuel Hurst, 1927–2010. Health Physics Society.

Hurst and the team of L.J. Deal and H.H. Rossi performed gamma and neutron radiation measurements at the Nevada Test Site during Operation Upshot–Knothole for the Atomic Energy Commission.Deal, L. J., Rossi, H. H., & Hurst, G. S. (1953). Operation Upshot–Knothole, Nevada Proving Grounds. Project 24. 2. Physical measurements of gamma and neutron radiation in shelter and instrumentation evaluation. Report for March–June 1953 (No. AD-A-995225/0; AEC-WT-789). USAEC, Washington, DC. For Operation PLUMBBOB, Hurst was again asked to participate along with Ritchie at the Nevada Test Site to collect radiation dosimetry data for human exposures during the tests.Hurst, G. S., & Ritchie, R. H. (1958). Operation PLUMBBOB. Nevada Test Site. May–October 1957, Project 395. Radiation Dosimetry for Human Exposures. Oak Ridge National Lab., Tennessee.

In the 1960s, Hurst along with L.B. O'Kelly, E.B. Wagner, J.A. Stockdale, James E. Parks, and F.J. Davis investigated time-of-flight electron transport in gases. The group utilized ethylene, water vapor and hydrogen to study and determine time-of-flight electron diffusion coefficients and electron drift velocities for these gases. Hurst led efforts to investigate time-of-flight of electron transport in atomic and molecular gases.Hurst, G. S., O'Kelly, L. B., Wagner, E. B., & Stockdale, J. A. (1963). Time‐of‐Flight Investigations of Electron Transport in Gases. The Journal of Chemical Physics. 39(5): 1341-1345.

In the mid-1960s, Hurst pursued researches that involved electron swarm measurement, swarm‐beam techniques and swarm drift to determine electron capture cross sections in heavy water, chlorobenzene, bromobenzene, ethylene and ethylene mixtures.Hurst, G., & Stockdale, J. (January 1964). Swarm Measurement of Cross Sections for Dissociative Electron Capture in Heavy Water, Chlorobenzene + Bromobenzene. Radiation Research. 22(1): 199.

Awards and honors

IR-100 Award, 3 awards
Union Carbide, Corporate fellow
American Physical Society, fellow
University of Kentucky, Alumni Association Hall of Distinguished Alumni, member
Berea College, D.Sc., honorary degree
University of Tennessee, physics department, Distinguished Alumni Award, 2005
University of Tennessee, physics department, G. Samuel and Betty P. Hurst Scholarship Fund; support for physics majors
Bell County High School, Pineville, Kentucky, notable alumni

Professional affiliations

Florida State University, visiting professor
Health Physics Society
Scientists and Engineers for Appalachia (SEA), founder
University of Tennessee, Institute of Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy, founder, director 1985–1988

Patents (15 total)

Resonance ionization for analytical spectroscopy, 1976.Hurst, G. S., Payne, Marvin G., & Wagner, Edward B. (1976). Resonance ionization for analytical spectroscopy. (No. US 3987302). Union Carbide Corp.
Method and apparatus for noble gas atom detection with isotopic selectivity, 1984.Hurst, G. S., Payne, M. G., Chen, C. H., & Parks, J. E. (17 January 1984). Method and apparatus for noble gas atom detection with isotopic selectivity. U.S. Patent No. 4,426,576. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Method of analyzing for a component in a sample, 1984.Hurst, G. Samuel, James E. Parks, James E. & Schmitt, Harold W. (10 April 1984). Method of analyzing for a component in a sample. U.S. Patent No. 4,442,354. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Method and apparatus for sensitive atom counting with high isotopic selectivity, 1987.Allman, S. L., Thonnard, N., & Hurst, G. S. (14 April 1987). Method and apparatus for sensitive atom counting with high isotopic selectivity. U.S. Patent No. 4,658,135. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Double pulsed time-of-flight mass spectrometer, 1987.Payne, Marvin G., Thonnard, Norbert and George S. Hurst. (15 September 1987). Double pulsed time-of-flight mass spectrometer. U.S. Patent No. 4,694,167. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Sensitive, stable, effective at low doses and low energy, 1987.Hurst, G. S., Schmitt, H. W., Thonnard, N., & Whitaker, T. J. (13 October 1987). Sensitive, stable, effective at low doses and low energy. U.S. Patent No. 4,699,751. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Ionizing radiation detector system, 1990.Hamm, R. N., Hunter, S. R., Hurst, G. S., Turner, J. E., & Wright, H. A. (5 June 1990). Ionizing radiation detector system. U.S. Patent No. 4,931,653. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
HVAC system. Radon monitor and control system based upon alpha particle detection, 1991.Hurst, G. S. (25 June 1991). HVAC system. Radon monitor and control system based upon alpha particle detection. U.S. Patent No. 5,026,986. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
System for determining health risk due to radon progeny and uses thereof, 1993.Hurst, G. S., Wright, H. A., & Hopke, P. K. (20 April 1993). System for determining health risk due to radon progeny and uses thereof. U.S. Patent No. 5,204,528. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Instrument simulator system, 1994.Hurst, G. S., Wright, H. A., & Morris, J. D. (19 April 1994). Instrument simulator system. U.S. Patent No. 5,304,065. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Instrument simulator system, 1995.Hurst, G. S., Wright, H. A., & Morris, J. D. (13 June 1995). Instrument simulator system. U.S. Patent No. 5,423,683. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Touch screen based topological mapping with resistance framing design, 2003.Hurst, G. Samuel, Ritchie, Rufus, Bouldin, Donald W. & Warmack, Robert. (18 November 2003). Touch screen based topological mapping with resistance framing design. U.S. Patent No. 6,650,319. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Touch sensor with non-uniform resistive band, 2007.Hurst, G. S., Ritchie, R. H., Warmack, R. J., Bouldin, D. W., & Kent, J. C. (4 September 2007). Touch sensor with non-uniform resistive band. U.S. Patent No. 7,265,686. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Touch screen with relatively conductive grid, 2010.Hurst, G. S., Ritchie, R. H., Bouldin, D. W., & Warmack, R. J. (21 September 2010). Touch screen with relatively conductive grid. U.S. Patent No. 7,800,589. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Multiple-touch sensor, 2011Hurst, G. S., Warmack, R. J., Richie, R. H., Bouldin, D. W., & Ritchie, D. (31 May 2011). Multiple-touch sensor. U.S. Patent No. 7,952,564. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Private enterprise

Hurst founded or co-founded five businesses:

Elographics, 1971. Developed a version of resistive touchscreen technology. Several patents secured. Electrical Sensor of Plane Coordinates.
Atom Sciences
Pellissippi International, 1988.Hurst, G. S. (1988). Development of an improved detector for krypton-81 and other noble-gas isotopes (No. PB-91-225722/XAB). Pellissippi International, Knoxville, TN (United States).
Consultec Scientific, 1990.Hurst, G. S. (1990). Assessment of research needs for laser technologies applied to advanced spectroscopic methods (No. DOE/ER/30131-T9). Consultec Scientific, Inc., Knoxville, TN (USA).