The Atomic Heritage Foundation is sad to report the passing of University of New Mexico professor Ferenc Szasz on Sunday, June 20. Ferenc, known as “Frank,” was a friend of the Foundation and an integral part of the first-ever New Mexico Teachers’ Workshop in 2009. He lectured about the birth of the bomb at Los Alamos and shared his passion for atomic-themed comics with the participating teachers.
Frank was born in Davenport, Iowa, in 1940. He loved comic books as a child and managed to collect a copy of the first-ever Mad Magazine. After graduating from high school, Frank attended Ohio Wesleyan University, where he met Professor Richard W. Smith. Smith’s teaching inspired Frank to attend the University of Rochester to pursue a graduate degree in history. He was offered a teaching position at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque by Professor Gerald D. Nash. Frank remained at UNM for 43 years.
Frank specialized in American history and was particularly enthusiastic
about all things atomic. He taught over 20,000 undergraduates and many
graduate students. Ellen McGehee, one of his graduate students,
appreciated his attentiveness and wealth of knowledge. According to the
obituary published in the Albuquerque Journal, Frank’s appeal as a
professor “lay in his compassion, knowledge, ability to listen, his
honesty, his humility and his sense of humor. Comic relief was his
mantra.” History Department Chair Charlie Steen told UNM Today that
“Frank’s death leaves a vacuum that won’t be filled. He was both a point
of reference and a soul of kindness.” Another colleague, Professor
Emeritus Dick Etulain, told UNM Today that he thought Frank “was the
most important person in the history of the Department of History.” He
was recognized as “Outstanding Teacher of the Year” in 1985.
Frank also published numerous books in his life, including The Day the
Sun Rose Twice, about the Trinity test. He published over 100 scholarly
and public articles and was a member of the editorial board for the
Journal of the West. He completed the manuscript for his latest book,
Atomic Comics: How Cartoonists Shaped the Nation’s Understanding of the
Atomic Age, which combined his passion for atomic culture with his love
of comics. The book is forthcoming, tentatively scheduled for release in
2011.
His family remembers him as a “master storyteller” with a passion for
Scotland and love of poetry. He is survived by his wife, Margaret
Connell-Szasz; son Eric Garretson; daughter Chris Garretson Bradley and
husband Scott Bradley; daughter Maria Szasz and husband Jonathan Rath;
grandsons, Tyler, Sean and Matthew Bradley; as well as his extended
family.
A public memorial will be held on August 27, 2010, at the University of
New Mexico chapel. The family has asked that in lieu of flowers,
donations be sent to the Frank Morton Szasz and Margaret Connell-Szasz
PhD Dissertation Fellowship in History, University of New Mexico College
of Arts and Sciences, MSC 03 2120, 1 University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque, NM 87131, Attn: Jeff MacNutt.
The obituary published in the Albuquerque Journal may be read here
and in UNM Todayhere.
The Atomic Heritage Foundation
910 17th Street, NW
Suite 408
Washington, DC 20006
202-293-0045 info@atomicheritage.org
Atomic Story of the Week
People literally left their shoes in the mud sometimes. They would step in the mud and they would pull their foot out and there would be no shoe on it, and they’d just keep going. So when they’d have dances at the tennis courts women would show up with these big boots and then take the boots off with all the mud and then slip on the golden sandals and away they’d go. Women had an incredible ability to sort of float above all the dust and mud and look gorgeous all the time, where the rest of us were kind of wallowing in what was there.
THEODORE ROCKWELL, OAK RIDGE
Did You Know?
"Talk softly please. I have been engaged in experiments which suggest that the atom can be artificially disintegrated. If it is true, it is of far greater importance than a war." (Ernest Rutherford, Physicist, 1919)
According to Robert Jungk in "Brighter than a Thousand Suns," Rutherford made this comment upon being censured for his absence from a top level meeting to discuss new anti-submarine defense systems.
