Plowshare leader Higgins dies at 75

A memorial gathering for Lab retiree Gary H. Higgins will be held Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Crow Canyon Country Club in Danville, 711 Silver Lake Drive. Higgins, a longtime Lab manager and scientist, died Friday following a heart attack. He was 75.

Higgins was born in Minnesota and earned his undergraduate degree at Macalester College in Minnesota. He earned his Ph.D. in transuranium element radiochemistry at UC Berkeley.

Higgins, who retired in 1983, started at the Lab in 1952 in the Chemistry Department. During his career, he also worked in Radiochemistry, served as head of K Division, was technical adviser to the Energy and Resource Program AD for more than 10 years and project leader for the Uranium Resource Evaluation Program.

As K Division leader, he planned, coordinated and evaluated Plowshare nuclear explosives programs, which focused on research into the peaceful applications of nuclear explosions.

"He had a lot of original ideas on Plowshare," recalled John Rambo, who worked for Higgins in the early ‘70s. "He was not only a good scientist, but he was also a great idea man."

Higgins’ research interests included the effects of explosions on earth and rock materials, geochemistry of earth mantle and crust, coal gasification and in situ fuel and mineral processes.

In addition to his early work in radiochemistry and nuclear properties of Americium and Curium isotopes, Higgins worked on the development of rapid ion-exchange separations, which have been used in identification of new transuranium elements. He co-discovered elements 99 and 100, Einsteinium and Fermium.

He co-authored a book in 1968 with Director Emeritus Edward Teller and Wilson Talley, entitled, "Constructive Uses of Nuclear Explosives."

Higgins received the Engineering "Man of the Year" Award in 1964 from the Engineering News Record and was awarded an honorary doctorate at his alma mater, Macalester College in 1968. In 1970, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for studies on the evolution of the Earth’s crust.

He was a long-time member of the Containment Evaluation Panel, which was convened at the Nevada Test Site before every test. The panel evaluated all aspects of the test before it could take place.

"He was instrumental in understanding cavities from nuclear events," Rambo recalled. "His division developed software for shockwave analysis from a nuclear event and did some of the early work on atmospheric release analysis."

Higgins is survived by his wife, Joan of Walnut Creek; daughter Leslie of Ithaca, NY; sons Timothy of Topaz, Nev.; Daniel of Brentwood; David of Danville; Andrew of Encinitas; eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Cards may be sent to Joan Higgins at 1908-C Tice Valley Road, #408, Walnut Creek, 94595. Memorial contributions may be made in his name to the American Heart Association.