A long time member of the Health Physics Instrumentation community, Dwane Stevens, passed away on July 20, in Sacramento, while preparing for the annual Health Physics Society conference. I first met Dwane in the late seventies when I visited Ludlum Instruments in Sweetwater Texas. While my companies have technically been competitors with Ludlum, I always respected Ludlumʻs products and people, and I always enjoyed seeing Dwane. He was a straight shooter who did what he said he was going to do. You didnʻt need contracts and lawyers to do business with Dwane. When I traveled, in November 1990, to Russia and Belarus on Chernobyl and nuclear arms control issues with Dr. Tom Cochran of NRDC, Dwane loaned me one of Ludlumʻs expensive scintillation detectors. It was a challenging time in those last days of the Soviet Union – with nuclear scientists not getting paid, nuclear weapons being paraded through Red Square, new Chernobyl-related contamination zones being discovered. Dr. Cochran and I were probably the first westerners to see the SS-24 ICMBs on November 7 of that trip. I will always appreciate having the instrument Dwane loaned me for that exciting and hair raising adventure. Iʻll also remember his kindness and sense of humor. My condolences to his family and friends.
