Robert Fassnacht

On the night of August 23 and into the early morning hours of August 24, 1970, Fassnacht was in the lab taking care of unfinished work because he and his family were slated to leave for a vacation in San Diego, California. His lab was located in the basement of Sterling Hall. He was in the process of cooling down his dewar with liquid nitrogen when the explosion occurred. Rescuers found him face down in about a foot of water. The cause of death, determined from the autopsy, was internal trauma.

As a protest against the Vietnam War, the bomb was built and planted by Karleton "Karl" Armstrong, Dwight Armstrong, David Fine, and Leo Burt. The intention was to destroy the Army Mathematics Research Center, but instead destroyed much of the physics department and severely damaged neighboring buildings.{{cite news|url=http://www2.jsonline.com/news/state/aug00/sterling20081900a.asp|title=30 years ago, bomb shattered UW campus|last1=Durhams|first1=Sharif|last2=Maller|first2=Peter|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311011349/http://www2.jsonline.com/news/state/aug00/sterling20081900a.asp|work=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|date=19 August 2000|language=en}}

Fassnacht was survived by his wife, Stephanie, and their three children: a three-year-old son, Christopher; and twin daughters, Heidi and Karin who turned one a month after their father's death. The family continued to live in Madison in relative quiet and anonymity for many decades after the explosion, often crossing paths with the site of their father/husband's murder.

Stephanie Fassnacht completed a long career at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, occupying an office just blocks from the site of her husband's death. She stated that she harbored "no ill will" toward Karl Armstrong "and never did."{{Cite news|url=https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/on_campus/on-campus-stephanie-fassnacht-tells-cbs-no-ill-will-toward/article_5bc1df9c-d24d-11e0-a588-001cc4c002e0.html|title=On Campus: Stephanie Fassnacht tells CBS: "no ill will" toward Karl Armstrong over Sterling Hall bombing|last=Ziff|first=Deborah|work=Wisconsin State Journal|date=22 May 2012|access-date=2018-09-29|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930033530/https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/on_campus/on-campus-stephanie-fassnacht-tells-cbs-no-ill-will-toward/article_5bc1df9c-d24d-11e0-a588-001cc4c002e0.html|archive-date=30 September 2018|language=en|quote=Fassnacht and her family have largely avoided the media in an effort to move on with their lives}} Instead she held the Board of Regents responsible.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0laODgAAQBAJ&q=stephanie+fassnacht&pg=PA589|title=Witness to the Revolution|last=Bingham|first=Clara|date=April 2017|publisher=Random House Publishing Group|isbn=9780812983265|pages=485}} Christopher attended Harvard University and Caltech and is now a physics professor at the University of California at Davis.{{cite web|title=Christopher Fassnacht|website=UC Davis, Department of Physics|url=http://physics.ucdavis.edu/people/faculty/christopher-fassnacht|access-date=14 November 2020|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151113024154/http://physics.ucdavis.edu/people/faculty/christopher-fassnacht|archive-date=13 November 2015}} Heidi and Karin both graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Image:Sterling Hall plaque.jpg

On May 18, 2007, the University of Wisconsin–Madison unveiled a plaque on the side of Sterling Hall commemorating the bombing and Robert Fassnacht's death. The event was attended by John D. Wiley, then Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and an acquaintance of Robert Fassnacht, by current and former members of the Physics department, including chair Susan Coppersmith, and family and friends of Robert, including his daughters Heidi and Karin.[http://www.madison.com/tct/archives/index.php?archAction=arch_read&a_from=search&a_file=%2Ftct%2F2007%2F05%2F19%2F0705190074.php&var_search=Search&keyword_field=Robert%20Fassnacht&pub_code_field=tct&from_date_field=&to_date_field=&var_start_pos=0&var_articles_per_page=10 Memorial Plaque Honors Fassnacht] by Katie Dean, The Capital Times{{Cite news|last=Fassnacht|first=Heidi|title=Reflections on Sterling Hall, a thank-you for opening your hearts|url=https://madison.com/news/opinion/column/heidi-fassnacht-reflections-on-sterling-hall-a-thank-you-for-opening-your-hearts/article_37095aef-fd68-5bab-87a5-68a68f4ef473.html|access-date=2020-11-14|date=24 August 2011|work=The Capital Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114065301/https://madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/heidi-fassnacht-reflections-on-sterling-hall-a-thank-you-for-opening-your-hearts/article_37095aef-fd68-5bab-87a5-68a68f4ef473.html|url-status=live|archive-date=14 November 2020|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=LaRoi|first=Heather|title=PLAQUE TO BE DEDICATED FOR 1970 STERLING HALL BOMBING|url=https://madison.com/news/local/plaque-to-be-dedicated-for-1970-sterling-hall-bombing/article_a274b34b-4092-5307-9fcd-8d6561f1573f.html|access-date=2020-11-14|work=The Capital Times|date=18 May 2007|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114065301/https://madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/heidi-fassnacht-reflections-on-sterling-hall-a-thank-you-for-opening-your-hearts/article_37095aef-fd68-5bab-87a5-68a68f4ef473.html|url-status=live|archive-date=14 November 2020}}

The plaque reads:

{{center|IN MEMORIAM}}

This is the site of the Sterling Hall Bombing, which occurred at 3:40 AM on August 24, 1970. An outstanding research scientist, Dr. Robert Fassnacht, was killed in the bombing while working in his laboratory on a physics experiment studying a basic mechanism for superconductivity in metals. Three others were injured. Dr. Fassnacht was 33 years old, married, and had three young children.

• {{Cite journal|last1=Fassnacht|first1=R. E.|last2=Dillinger|first2=J. R.|date=1967-08-01|title=Superconductivity of Cd–Bi Eutectic Solder|journal=Journal of Applied Physics|volume=38|issue=9|pages=3667–3668|doi=10.1063/1.1710191|bibcode=1967JAP....38.3667F |issn=0021-8979|doi-access=free}}
• {{Cite journal|last1=Fassnacht|first1=R. E.|last2=Dillinger|first2=J. R.|date=1967-08-08|title=Time Mark Generator for an X-Y Recorder|url=https://aip.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.1683090|journal=Review of Scientific Instruments|language=en|volume=39|issue=1|pages=127|doi=10.1063/1.1683090|issn=0034-6748|url-access=subscription}}
• {{Cite journal|last1=Fassnacht|first1=R. E.|last2=Dillinger|first2=J. R.|date=1967-12-10|title=Superconducting Transitions of Isotopes of Zinc|url=https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRev.164.565|journal=Physical Review|volume=164|issue=2|pages=565–574|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.164.565|bibcode=1967PhRv..164..565F |url-access=subscription}}
  • {{Cite journal|last1=Dillinger|first1=J. R.|last2=Fassnacht|first2=R. E.|last3=Jones|first3=D. M.|date=1968-10-31|title=Isotope Effect in Zinc and Zirconium|osti=4507358 |url=https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4507358|language=en|journal=10th International Conference on Low Temperature Physics}}
  • {{Cite journal|last1=Fassnacht|first1=R. E.|last2=Dillinger|first2=J. R.|date=1969-03-10|title=Isotope Effect in Superconducting Gallium|url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0375-9601%2869%2990595-7|journal=Physics Letters A|language=en|volume=28|issue=11|pages=741–742|doi=10.1016/0375-9601(69)90595-7|bibcode=1969PhLA...28..741F |issn=0375-9601|url-access=subscription}}
  • {{Cite journal|last1=Fassnacht|first1=R. E.|last2=Dillinger|first2=J R.|date=1970-05-11|title=Evidence for Fluctuation Effects above T_C in Isotopically and Metallurgically Pure Bulk Type-I Superconductors|url=https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.24.1059|journal=Physical Review Letters|volume=24|issue=19|pages=1059–1061|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.24.1059|bibcode=1970PhRvL..24.1059F |url-access=subscription}}
  • {{Cite journal|last1=Fassnacht|first1=R. E.|last2=Dillinger|first2=J. R.|date=1970-12-01|title=Isotope Effect in Superconducting Cadmium|url=https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.2.4442|journal=Physical Review B|volume=2|issue=11|pages=4442–4444|doi=10.1103/PhysRevB.2.4442|bibcode=1970PhRvB...2.4442F |url-access=subscription}}

{{reflist}}

• Rads: The 1970 Bombing of the Army Math Research Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Its Aftermath, 1992, by Tom Bates ({{ISBN|0060167548}})
• The Madison Bombings, 1988, by Michael Morris ({{ISBN|0947002308}})
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060116143118/http://www.madison.com/library/LEE/sterlinghall.html Madison Newspapers Archive of the Sterling Hall Bombing]
• {{Cite journal|last=Dillinger|first=Joseph R.|date=2008-12-30|title=Robert E. Fassnacht|journal=Physics Today|language=en|volume=23|issue=10|pages=69|doi=10.1063/1.3021801|issn=0031-9228|doi-access=free}}
• {{Cite web|date=12 February 2016|title=STERLING HALL/MATH RESEARCH CENTER BOMBING FINDING AID|url=https://cms.library.wisc.edu/archives/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2015/06/Math-Research-Center-finding-aid_Dec-2015-version-1.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200714095054/https://cms.library.wisc.edu/archives/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2015/06/Math-Research-Center-finding-aid_Dec-2015-version-1.pdf|archive-date=14 July 2020|access-date=14 November 2020|publisher=UW Archives|quote=The bombing of Sterling Hall on the morning of August 24, 1970 was one of the pivotal events of the protest movements of the 1960s and 70s, as well as in the history of the University of Wisconsin’s Madison campus. [...] this research guide has been compiled with the aim of aiding those inquiring into the bombing.}}
• {{Cite web|title=Sterling Hall Bombing of 1970 {{!}} Oral History Website|url=https://www.library.wisc.edu/archives/exhibits/sterling-hall-bombing-of-1970/|access-date=2020-11-14|publisher=University of Wisconsin-Madison|editor-last1=Reeves|editor-first1=Troy|language=en-US}}
• {{Cite book|url=https://cache.kzoo.edu/bitstream/handle/10920/16166/KCollege%20Yearbook%201957%20PDF%20from%20250%20dpi.pdf?sequence=1|title=The Kalamazoo College Boiling Pot|orig-date=1957|publisher=Kalamazoo College Archives|year=2009|editor-last=Crandell|editor-first=Marlene|location=Kalamazoo, Michigan|pages=32, 33, 66, 67|access-date=14 November 2020}}
• {{Cite journal|date=8 October 1970|title=91st Congress, 2nd Session - SENATE; ILLEGAL TRANSPORTATION, USE, OR POSSESSION OF EXPLOSIVES |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1970-pt26/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1970-pt26-6-1.pdf|journal=Congressional Record|volume= 116, Part 26 (October 1, 1970 to October 8, 1970)|page=[https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1970-pt26/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1970-pt26-6-1.pdf#page=45 35630]|quote=Senator McClellan: Robert Fassnacht lost his life at the University of Wisconsin in Madison when a terrorist bomb, aimed at [the] Army-funded mathematics center on the second and fourth floors of the building, demolished the physics lab below. Lost, too, was the life's work of Prof. Joseph R. Dillinger, who has spent the last 23 years constructing, step by painful step, an intricate assemblage of cryogenic machinery, which was totally wiped out by the blast. Faced with this destruction of his own life's work, Dillinger, according to Life magazine-September 18, 1970, at page 41, column 3-is bewildered and bitter. "Fassnacht is dead and nothing can bring him back," he says. "That's the biggest loss of all. As for my lab, I could rebuild it all for about {{US$|150000|1970|long=np|round=-3}}. It would take me about 6 years, but I could do it. But by then I'd be 60. And suppose they blew it up again? What's the point?"}}

{{University of Wisconsin–Madison}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fassnacht, Robert}}

Category:American terrorism victims

Category:Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War

Category:Kalamazoo College alumni

Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni

Category:1937 births

Category:1970 deaths

Category:People murdered in Wisconsin

Category:People from South Bend, Indiana

Category:Deaths by improvised explosive device in the United States

Category:20th-century American physicists