Frank Joseph Padden Jr, a leading figure in the polymer physics community, died on 21 January 2002. His car had been in a collision with a truck the previous day near his home in Mexico, New York. He suffered severe head injuries and died without regaining consciousness. He had served with great distinction for many years, both through his research contributions and by playing a very active role in the American Physical Society.
Padden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on 21 September 1928. He earned his BS in physics at the University of Scranton in 1950 and then studied polymer rheology at the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Following military service at Fort Detrick, Maryland, where he worked on classified research, he joined, in 1957, the American Viscose Corp in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. The company was then organizing a significant research effort on synthetic polymers, newly emerging as materials of much scientific and technological interest. He worked in close association with one of us (Keith) on the structure and morphology of semicrystalline polymers.
In 1960, Padden moved with Keith to Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, where their collaboration continued for another 30 years. Padden and Keith’s research has laid many foundations for understanding crystallization processes and their roles in controlling properties in such important materials as polyethylene, polypropylene, and nylons. APS recognized this work by jointly awarding them the High Polymer Physics Prize in 1973. Highlights of their work included the formulation of a phenomenological theory of spherulitic crystallization (1958–62), elucidation of deformation mechanisms in polymers (1959), visualization of important mechanical linkages between crystals in melt-crystallized polymers (1965–69), and studies (with Giovanni Giannoni and Bernard Lotz) of crystal growth and crystallography in synthetic polypeptides (model biological polymers; 1966–70). Padden retired from Bell Laboratories in 1993.
Padden was widely known and respected for his long and distinguished term of service (1967–88) as secretary–treasurer of APS’s polymer physics division. He not only served as a link between the early pioneers who established the division and its current membership, but was also a guiding influence in strengthening and broadening its activities. This experience was especially valuable when he later served on the APS Council and its Executive Board. His effectiveness derived in large measure from a modest and self-effacing but very warm personality, backed by quiet wisdom and marked generosity of spirit. He listened patiently to all sides before speaking with a clarity and wisdom that usually presaged the final word on any given issue.
Padden was particularly kind and helpful to young people and to those facing important career decisions; his counsel was widely sought and generously given. In recognition of his caring attention to young scientists, the polymer physics division established the Frank J. Padden Jr Award in 1994, which annually recognizes a graduate student for excellence in polymer physics research.
A devout Christian, Padden was ordained as a deacon of his church in 1976. Not only did he participate significantly in the affairs and outreach programs of his parish, he and his wife regularly opened their home to countless people in need while they were helped to find their own way again. After his retirement, he devoted his life to comforting ill and dying people by serving as a hospital chaplain. His humanitarian qualities greatly exceeded in scope what was commonly known among his scientific colleagues.
Padden was a man of rare qualities. He will be greatly missed by all those who were fortunate enough to have known him, and especially by his many friends in the polymer physics community.
