Lauriston Sale Taylor, a radiation physicist who became a founder and leader of national and international radiation organizations, died in his sleep on 26 November 2004, in Mitchellville, Maryland, at the age of 102. Known as Laurie to his friends and colleagues, he initiated the program in x-radiation measurement standards at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS, now NIST), in 1927. By the 1950s, that program had developed into one of the world’s leading radiation-physics laboratories.
Laurie was born on 1 June 1902 in Brooklyn, New York, but grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey. During an elementary-school field trip to Thomas Edison’s laboratory, Laurie told the inventor–physicist about his own interest in vacuum tubes. Edison promptly gave him a cold-cathode x-ray tube. Laurie developed interests in wireless telegraphy, plumbing, and electrical wiring, and later became a licensed plumber and electrician.
Following a year of engineering studies and a year at the Western Electric Co, a predecessor to Bell Laboratories, he switched to physics and studied x rays and spectroscopy with Floyd K. Richtmyer for five years at Cornell University. In 1926, he received his AB. His doctoral thesis work was in the field of x-ray absorption spectroscopy and oscillator circuits.
When he heard that NBS needed a physicist in his field, Laurie applied for the job and was hired in 1927. However, after he had arrived at the bureau, his supervisor left for another position, so Laurie had to fend for himself. At the time, radiological societies were pressing strongly for x-ray dose standards to aid in the protection of radiologists and radiation workers and to ensure the accurate measurement of doses given to patients in radiation therapy. Laurie set about equipping a laboratory and designing a free-air ionization chamber to be the national x-ray standard up to 200 kV. He needed a chamber sufficiently small and light so that it could be physically carried to Europe for comparison with standards there, but the chamber required a uniform electric field. So Laurie developed the first guarded-field free-air ionization chamber. To provide the field uniformity, it used guard wires that were stepped down in voltage from the high-voltage electrode to the potential of the collecting electrode and its guard plates.
In 1931, Laurie carried that national standard chamber to Britain, France, and Germany, and performed comparisons of the roentgen unit; his results were in agreement to within about 1%—extremely good for the time. The present national standard for that energy region has evolved from the original chamber and now has improved response at higher energies.
Early in his career, Laurie recognized the need for authoritative guidance to protect people from radiation. At age 26, he became a member of both the International Commission on Radiological Protection and the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements, and served on each for more than 50 years. He helped found the US Advisory Committee on X-Ray and Radium Protection (later the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements) in 1928 and became its chairman in 1929, succeeding the first chairman, William Coolidge. Laurie headed the committee for the next 48 years. He built the committee into a large, voluntary organization with a council of experts who guide the program and review the reports, and with an active committee structure that prepares the reports. In 1964, the NCRP was chartered by the US Congress.
During World War II, Laurie led a major part of the proximity fuse program. He then became scientific adviser to Hoyt Vandenberg, the commanding general of the Ninth Air Force, and led a research team in studying the effectiveness of bombing patterns in the European theater.
An excellent administrator who had a knack for choosing well-qualified staff, Laurie gradually built, during the 1940s and 1950s, a broadly based radiation-physics program at NBS into one that included three major efforts: radiation theory led by Ugo Fano, radiation standards led by Harold O. Wyckoff, and nuclear physics led by H. William Koch. Laurie was an outstanding motivator; the division attracted and retained many leading scientists. He was named associate director of NBS in 1962 and retired from the bureau in December 1964. He began a new career as special assistant to the president of the National Academy of Sciences (1965–69) and as executive director of NAS’s advisory committee on emergency planning (1965–71).
A clear and prolific author, Laurie wrote or contributed to 20 books and published more than 160 scientific papers. He received numerous honors, including Gold Medals from the 13th International Congress of Radiology (1973), the Royal Swedish Academy (1992), and the American Roentgen Ray Society (1992). He also received the highest US civilian award, the Medal of Freedom, in 1946, and the Executive Office of the President’s Distinguished Service Award in 1968. At the annual NCRP meetings, the Lauriston S. Taylor Lecture is a highlight.
Laurie is remembered for his off-beat sense of humor. In his office, he posted a sign saying, “Just Enough Fleas Is Good for a Dog to Keep Him from Brooding on Being a Dog.” Once he wore bright socks of different colors to a seminar he was presenting at NBS just to see if anyone would notice. The audience did! He was also famous for his vast collection of bright bow ties.
Laurie enjoyed a wonderful career and is very fondly remembered by many.
