In Memoriam
Lawrence Morton Grossman
Professor of Nuclear Engineering, Emeritus
UC Berkeley
1922-2018
Lawrence Morton Grossman (Larry) was born in New York City on August 2, 1922, to Bea and Abe Grossman. Larry’s father was an engineer who worked on the George Washington Bridge and his mother worked in the garment industry. He contracted polio at age 6 and was not expected to survive, but Larry’s resilience proved differently, and he was 95 years old when he died in San Diego on February 24, 2018.
Grossman’s intelligence and intellectual curiosity were apparent early on, and he was admitted to Townsend Harris (a magnet high school for the gifted in New York). He subsequently attended City College of New York, receiving a B. S. in chemical engineering at age 19. He spent a year working as a chemical engineer at the E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company at Niagara Falls, New York, from 1942 to 1943. Returning to City College, he obtained an M. S. in chemical engineering in 1944. He was a Standard Oil Corporation of California Fellow during his graduate studies at City College.
Larry Grossman moved to Berkeley in 1944 to continue his graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and obtained a Ph.D. in engineering science in 1948. While in graduate school, he was appointed as an instructor in mechanical engineering (ME; 1944-1946) and then as a lecturer (1946-1948). Upon completion of the Ph.D., he was appointed as an assistant professor in ME (1948-1954), was promoted to associate professor (1954-1959), and subsequently to full professor in 1959. He joined the nascent Department of Nuclear Engineering (NE) when it was formed in 1964 and was a professor in NE until his retirement in 1991.
Professor Grossman was awarded a Fulbright lectureship at the University of Delft (Netherlands) from 1952 to 1953 and a National Science Foundation Senior Research Fellowship at the Saclay Nuclear Research Center (France) from 1961 to 1962. He was a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Senior Fellow in 1974. He was a recipient of the Berkeley Citation upon his retirement in 1991, which recognizes those who have made exceptional contributions to the university and exceeded the standards of excellence in their fields.
Grossman was a prolific author of journal articles, and also the author of a textbook, entitled Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics (McGraw-Hill, 1969). He collaborated with fellow professors Virgil Schrock (experimental heat transfer) and Paul Chambré (applied mathematics) on many projects, and the three complemented each other in their respective areas of expertise. His earliest work (with Schrock) involved a model for heat transfer in pressurized water reactors (PWRs) which to this day is known as the “Schrock-Grossman correlation.” Later in his career he was interested in a method of neutronics called “discrete ordinates,” which is a way of solving the neutron transport equation with discrete angular and spatial groups. Larry was also interested in nuclear reactor control and safety and became interested in applying the concepts of modern feedback control theory to the problem of reactor neutronics. He also studied and published in the area of zonal instability due to xenon oscillations in large-core nuclear reactors, in a way anticipating nuclear reactor runaway such as happened at Chernobyl.
Larry Grossman was a dedicated teacher. His son, Paul, remembers his long preparation every night before a lecture, with notes written out longhand. He created a warm atmosphere in the classroom, and stayed in touch with many of his students, many going on to careers of importance in government and industry. In almost every civilian nuclear power program around the globe, one will find that a Berkeley graduate was involved at its inception, and a Grossman student at that.
Professor Grossman’s record of university and public service was also exemplary. He served as department chair in NE from 1969 to 1974. He was chair of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate for academic years 1978-79 and 1979-80. He served on many other university-wide and college-wide committees, including the Division’s Committee on Budget and Interdepartmental Relations (1984-85), the Committee on Educational Policy (1973-1977), and on the systemwide Academic Assembly as Division chair, and as a representative (1971-1973, 1987-1989). He was known for his respectful and collegial style, while at the same time always getting his point of view across. As his friend and colleague of more than 50 years, Karl Pister, dean of the College of Engineering throughout the 1980s, has said: “When I was dean of the College of Engineering, I was in charge of over 200 faculty members, and believe me, if they were all like Larry, it would have been an extremely pleasant job.”
Grossman consulted with various federal and international agencies following the Chernobyl accident in 1986. One can picture the great amount of public uncertainty about the safety of nuclear power after this accident, and the value of Grossman’s knowledge about what went wrong, and why it would not happen in U.S. reactor designs.
Larry Grossman’s interest in matters outside his professional life was very broad. He was fluent in French and enjoyed every aspect of French culture. He extended his knowledge of technical Russian, cultivated out of the need to read mathematical papers in that language, to include conversational Russian. After retirement he attended graduate courses in mathematics at Berkeley. He became a self-taught sailor and became proficient at it (after a few harrowing experiences on San Francisco Bay!). He and his wife of 65 years, Helen, were accomplished cooks, and his great delight was working with her to bring gourmet dishes to table, even on weeknights. He carried on his committee-service penchant to become active in his retirement community in San Diego in every possible way. Larry was an attentive and supportive husband, father, and grandfather, and remained very close with his many friends and colleagues. He is survived by his wife Helen, son Paul and his wife Bonnie, and granddaughter Laura.
In short, Larry Grossman made the most of a long life, and set a standard as a scholar, teacher, mentor, researcher, administrator, head of family, and as someone who simply enjoyed everything that he was doing. We write this report with great respect for the value of Larry in his technical field and as a first-rate human being.
Edward C. Morse
T. Kenneth Fowler
2019
Grossman’s intelligence and intellectual curiosity were apparent early on, and he was admitted to Townsend Harris (a magnet high school for the gifted in New York). He subsequently attended City College of New York, receiving a B. S. in chemical engineering at age 19. He spent a year working as a chemical engineer at the E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company at Niagara Falls, New York, from 1942 to 1943. Returning to City College, he obtained an M. S. in chemical engineering in 1944. He was a Standard Oil Corporation of California Fellow during his graduate studies at City College.
Larry Grossman moved to Berkeley in 1944 to continue his graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and obtained a Ph.D. in engineering science in 1948. While in graduate school, he was appointed as an instructor in mechanical engineering (ME; 1944-1946) and then as a lecturer (1946-1948). Upon completion of the Ph.D., he was appointed as an assistant professor in ME (1948-1954), was promoted to associate professor (1954-1959), and subsequently to full professor in 1959. He joined the nascent Department of Nuclear Engineering (NE) when it was formed in 1964 and was a professor in NE until his retirement in 1991.
Professor Grossman was awarded a Fulbright lectureship at the University of Delft (Netherlands) from 1952 to 1953 and a National Science Foundation Senior Research Fellowship at the Saclay Nuclear Research Center (France) from 1961 to 1962. He was a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Senior Fellow in 1974. He was a recipient of the Berkeley Citation upon his retirement in 1991, which recognizes those who have made exceptional contributions to the university and exceeded the standards of excellence in their fields.
Grossman was a prolific author of journal articles, and also the author of a textbook, entitled Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics (McGraw-Hill, 1969). He collaborated with fellow professors Virgil Schrock (experimental heat transfer) and Paul Chambré (applied mathematics) on many projects, and the three complemented each other in their respective areas of expertise. His earliest work (with Schrock) involved a model for heat transfer in pressurized water reactors (PWRs) which to this day is known as the “Schrock-Grossman correlation.” Later in his career he was interested in a method of neutronics called “discrete ordinates,” which is a way of solving the neutron transport equation with discrete angular and spatial groups. Larry was also interested in nuclear reactor control and safety and became interested in applying the concepts of modern feedback control theory to the problem of reactor neutronics. He also studied and published in the area of zonal instability due to xenon oscillations in large-core nuclear reactors, in a way anticipating nuclear reactor runaway such as happened at Chernobyl.
Larry Grossman was a dedicated teacher. His son, Paul, remembers his long preparation every night before a lecture, with notes written out longhand. He created a warm atmosphere in the classroom, and stayed in touch with many of his students, many going on to careers of importance in government and industry. In almost every civilian nuclear power program around the globe, one will find that a Berkeley graduate was involved at its inception, and a Grossman student at that.
Professor Grossman’s record of university and public service was also exemplary. He served as department chair in NE from 1969 to 1974. He was chair of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate for academic years 1978-79 and 1979-80. He served on many other university-wide and college-wide committees, including the Division’s Committee on Budget and Interdepartmental Relations (1984-85), the Committee on Educational Policy (1973-1977), and on the systemwide Academic Assembly as Division chair, and as a representative (1971-1973, 1987-1989). He was known for his respectful and collegial style, while at the same time always getting his point of view across. As his friend and colleague of more than 50 years, Karl Pister, dean of the College of Engineering throughout the 1980s, has said: “When I was dean of the College of Engineering, I was in charge of over 200 faculty members, and believe me, if they were all like Larry, it would have been an extremely pleasant job.”
Grossman consulted with various federal and international agencies following the Chernobyl accident in 1986. One can picture the great amount of public uncertainty about the safety of nuclear power after this accident, and the value of Grossman’s knowledge about what went wrong, and why it would not happen in U.S. reactor designs.
Larry Grossman’s interest in matters outside his professional life was very broad. He was fluent in French and enjoyed every aspect of French culture. He extended his knowledge of technical Russian, cultivated out of the need to read mathematical papers in that language, to include conversational Russian. After retirement he attended graduate courses in mathematics at Berkeley. He became a self-taught sailor and became proficient at it (after a few harrowing experiences on San Francisco Bay!). He and his wife of 65 years, Helen, were accomplished cooks, and his great delight was working with her to bring gourmet dishes to table, even on weeknights. He carried on his committee-service penchant to become active in his retirement community in San Diego in every possible way. Larry was an attentive and supportive husband, father, and grandfather, and remained very close with his many friends and colleagues. He is survived by his wife Helen, son Paul and his wife Bonnie, and granddaughter Laura.
In short, Larry Grossman made the most of a long life, and set a standard as a scholar, teacher, mentor, researcher, administrator, head of family, and as someone who simply enjoyed everything that he was doing. We write this report with great respect for the value of Larry in his technical field and as a first-rate human being.
Edward C. Morse
T. Kenneth Fowler
2019
