Salem: Gordon L. Brownell, PhD, age 86 of Salem, a widely respected physicist and innovator, died at his home Tuesday, November 11, 2008 following a long illness. He was the husband of Anna-Liisa (Pranni) Brownell.
Born in Duncan, Oklahoma and raised in New York and Pennsylvania, He received his B.Sc. from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA and his PhD in physics from MIT in Cambridge. During W. W. II, he served in the Navy Research Group to develop acoustic devices to detect deep sea mines.
Throughout his life, Gordon served on multiple committees and received multiple honors and awards for his dedication to the advancement of physics. Some of those he served on include:
1967-1973 Executive Committee, Isotopes and Radiation Div., American Nuclear Society
1967-1969 Director, American Association of Physicists in Medicine
1969-1982 Corporation Member, Boston Biomedical Research Institute
1969-1970, Chairman, Isotopes & Radiation Division, American Nuclear Society
1972-1976 Radiation Study Section NIH
1979-1982 Director, American Nuclear Society
1982-1986 Councilor, Radiation Research Society.
His awards and Honors include:
1952 Honorary Member, Argentina Medical Assoc.
1975 Paul C. Aebersold Award of Society of Nuclear Medicine
1979 George Von Hevesy Memorial Award, Innsbruck, Austria
1979 Director and Fellow of the American Nuclear Society
1983 Co-chairman of the 1st International BNCT Conference, Cambridge, MA
1983 President, Third Symposium of the Medical Application of Cyclotrons, Turku, Finland
1985 Honorary President, 2nd International BNCT Conference, Tokyo, Japan
1987 The Coolidge Award, American Assoc. of Physicists in Medicine
1997 Honorary Fellow of American College of Nuclear Medicine
2003 Membership in the Institute of Medicine, The National Academy of Sciences.
As an innovator and inventor, Gordon Brownell was a part of the history of Nuclear Medicine, when in 1950 he built a Positron Imaging Device. He continued the development of Positron Imaging Instrumentation, including the first Positron Emissions Tomography through 1999. His achievements in imaging instrumentation can be found on www.mit-edu/~glb.
In addition he developed Boron Neutron Capture Therapy for treatment of brain tumors and wrote the book ‘Radiation Dosimetry’ with Gerald J. Hine in 1956 as well as publishing more than 200 scientific papers. He established the Physics Research Laboratory at MGH in 1950 and served as the Honorary Physicist in the Department of Radiology at MGH until his death. He was nominated Professor at MIT in 1956 and served as a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at MIT until his death.
Though his life was largely consumed with scientific research, Gordon was an avid world traveler and reader. In his later years, he was involved in real-estate development in St. John, USVI.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by 6 children: Wendy L. Silverman of Needham, Peter G. Brownell of Marlboro, David L. Brownell of Medway, James K. Brownell of Waltham, Piia J. DiMeco, of Wilmington, Janne K. Kairento of Beverly. He is also survived by a brother Roscoe Brownell, Jr. of Altoo na, PA and 7 grandchildren.
Relatives and friends are invited to his funeral service on Saturday, November 15, 2008 at 11 am in the First Church in Salem, Unitarian, 316 Essex St., Salem. Visiting hours will be at the Levesque Funeral Home, 163 Lafayette St., [Rt. 114 / 1-A] Salem on Friday from 4 to 8 pm. Burial will be in Puritan Lawn Memorial Park, Peabody. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Gordon L. Brownell Scholarship Fund for the Advancement of Physics, c/o Salem Five Bank Acct. # 773048947, 210 Essex St., Salem, MA 01970. For guest book and additional information please visit www.levesquefunerals.com