[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 45 (Wednesday, April 16, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E675]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF LYMAN SPITZER

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MICHAEL PAPPAS

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 16, 1997

  Mr. PAPPAS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Lyman Spitzer 
who passed away on March 31.
  Lyman was one of the greatest astrophysicists that our world has ever 
seen and was the visionary for the Hubble space telescope. His passing 
came just days before the April 3 closing of the Tokamak Fusion Test 
Reactor [TFTR] at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory which he 
founded and headed for many years.
  The Tokamak experiment was based on one of Dr. Spitzer's most 
exciting ideas--that it should be possible to recreate the energy 
producing process of the stars and harness it as an abundant source of 
energy on Earth. Despite the TFTR's major world record accomplishments 
of controlled fusion power during its history it was shut down 2 weeks 
ago.
  The long-term interests and needs of our Nation, like the need to 
find environmentally safe and abundant sources of energy will not end 
with Lyman Spitzer, but the progress he made in this area will serve as 
a starting point for years to come.
  As America faces a new century, looking for new answers to our 
Nation's problems, it is the vision and effort of people like Lyman 
Spitzer that will guide us to the solutions.

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