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In Memoriam: Emeritus Professor Jurgen (George) Honig

2022-11-04

Writer(s): Steve Scherer

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Our colleague and emeritus professor George Honig died at the age of 98.

Professor Honig received a BS degree from Amherst College in 1945 and a PhD degree from the University of Minnesota in 1952. After a postdoctoral appointment year at the James Forrestal Center of Princeton University in 1953, he joined the Department of Chemistry at Purdue University in 1953 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1958. From 1959-1967, Professor Honig was Group Leader at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, MA.

He returned as Professor of Chemistry to Purdue in 1967 and retired in 2000. During his time at Purdue, he was Editor of the Journal of Solid-State Chemistry (1982-2000), the Chairman of the Materials Sciences Council (1968-1982), and published more than 400 refereed publications and eight books.

Professor Honig earned an honorary degree from the University of Science and Technology (2009) Krakow, Poland. He was a fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences and was awarded our department’s Wetherill Medal in 1995. Two issues of the Journal of Solid State Chemistry (1990 and 2000) and an issue of Solid State Sciences (2000) are dedicated to him, and a session at a Materials Research Society meeting (2000) held in honor of his retirement.

The Bodner-Honig endowed chair in Purdue Chemistry was co-named in his honor.