Carl Henning

Livermore resident Carl Douglas Henning, who spent most of his career at the Lab, died June 13. He was 73.

Born Feb, 28, 1939, Henning was a mechanical engineer, with a bachelor's degree from Ohio University and a Ph. D. from the University of Michigan.

At LLNL, he held many senior management and technical leadership positions in research toward controlling nuclear fusion as an energy source. He was responsible for building the world's largest magnet at that time and designing massive containment vessels for stemming the oil fires in Kuwait.

He spent two years on assignment in Germany as a member of the U.S. contingent of scientists designing the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor ( ITER) intended as a small fusion energy source.

Henning spent three years at Intermagnetics General Corporation as vice-president for technology development where he contributed to the development of an MRI machine for General Electric.

In 1976-1978, he worked at the Department of Energy as branch chief in the Office of Magnetic Fusion.

The author of many technical papers and presentations, Henning held five U.S. patents, and received numerous honors and awards, including being elected as a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society.

In 2011 he was elected to the Fairview High School Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was raised.

Henning was an adventurer, rebuilding and flying his own airplanes, and in retirement, sailing a large catamaran that he and his wife, Judy, lived on in the Caribbean for several months of each year.

In 1988, he flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean in his Cessna 33,7 which he had rebuilt. While in Europe, he and Judy flew to Germany, London and Egypt, and along the Nile River. He returned home solo flying via Iceland, Greenland and Nova Scotia, a 2,600-mile journey in all. His hobby was flying the rivers of the world with Judy; they have been to the headwaters of the Amazon, Angel Falls in Venezuela, along the Orinoco, Colorado, Mississippi and other great rivers.

Often they would fly to the Caribbean, and to the island of Roatan (off Honduras), where they owned a second home. Henning will be remembered by his many friends as a confident, self-sufficient man who relished daunting challenges. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Judy, and his two daughters, Kirsten Baca of Walnut Creek and Lisa Low of Danville; his granddaughters, Brooke Baca and Lexie Low; and his sister, Joy Arndt of Cleveland, Ohio.

Friends are invited to a celebration of Henning's life at 3 p.m. on Friday, June 22, at his home in Livermore. Those wishing to honor his memory may send a donation to Hospice of the East Bay.