Thomas Harper

Thomas L. Harper, a Lab retiree, died Wednesday, March 2, from pancreatic cancer. He was 67.

Harper was born May 3, 1943 in Salinas, Calif., to the late Thomas Lawrence and Anne Mae Harper. He attended Sacred Heart School in Salinas and was an Eagle Scout. He received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from U.C. Berkeley and a Ph.D in nuclear engineering from MIT.

Harper came to LLNL as a physicist in L Division in 1969. One of his first assignments was as an X-ray experimenter working on the Cannikin Event at the Amchitka Island supplemental test site. Soon after, he was assigned to re-write the Fluorescer computer code, which is used to design and analyze X-ray experiments. His revision was used until the end of nuclear testing and a modified version is still in use by the Laser Program. The 142-page accompanying report is still the “Bible” of such experiments. In 1972, he was named diagnostic project physicist for the Delphinium Event and he continued as a Nevada Test Site project physicist for eight more events, the last being the major Orkney Event in 1984. Toward the end of this period, he served as an underground test expert for Z division, returning to L Division in the early ‘80s.

After the Orkney Event, Harper moved to the Nuclear Design Department as a program manager and then transferred back to Z Division. He retired from LLNL in November 1993 as part of the VERIP-3 program and continued working as a Lab associate for Z Division. He later transferred to AX Division to work on archiving and classification review.

Harper enjoyed hiking and being outdoors in some of his favorite places, including Yosemite, Tahoe and Marina Beach. He also enjoyed being home and caring for his land and sheep. Harper and his wife, Susan, took trips last year to Denver, Colorado, Grand Haven, Michigan and Las Vegas, where they hiked and enjoyed time together.

Services will be held Friday, April 8, at 11 a.m. in the Chapel at Cornerstone Church in Livermore.