Augustus Prince
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Augustus "Gus" Prince | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1924 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Died | 2018 |
| Education | B.S. University of Pennsylvania, M.S. Drexel Institute of Technology, Ph.D. University of Cincinnati |
| Occupation | Nuclear scientist |
| Employer | Brookhaven National Laboratory |
Augustus “Gus” Prince was an American nuclear scientist at the Brookhaven National Laboratory who developed the standard methodology for the analysis of deformed nuclei.[1][2][3] He was the first Black radarman in the Navy, having served as a second class officer radarman during World War II from 1944 to 1945.[1][2] He died on January 5, 2018.[3]
Prince was born on January 11, 1924, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1][3] He grew up in a single-parent household where his mother emphasized discipline and education.[1] His favorite subjects in school were math and science.[1] Upon graduating high school, Prince began working at the Sun Shipyard in Chester, Pennsylvania, to afford a college education.[3][1] Prince later served on a Navy ship that was built at the same Sun Shipyard.[1][3]
Prince began his career in the Navy during World War II, 1944 to 1945.[1][2] He was accepted to radar school and served as the first Black radarman in the Navy.[1] During the war, he served as a radarman on board the escort carrier USS Santee (CVE-29).[1][2][3] While on tour, Prince taught algebra to other radar men and would spend his free time training as a middleweight boxer.[3][1] During his service with the Navy, he earned the rank of second class officer radarman.[1]
Following an honorable discharge from the Navy in 1945, Prince graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1952 with a bachelor's degree in science.[2][3] He then continued his education with a master's degree in physics from the Drexel Institute of Technology, specializing in nuclear physics.[2][3] Later, Prince obtained his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cincinnati, where he served as a faculty advisor for the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity as well as an instructor for several years.[2][3] From 1962 to 1964, he served as a laboratory instructor for general physics at the University of Cincinnati.[3] In 1964, he taught evening courses in atomic and nuclear physics at the University of Cincinnati while concurrently working as a senior physicist in the nuclear material and propulsion division at General Electric.[3]