Marty Lubell of ORNL Died in Early 2012

August 1, 2012 (PO11). Another loss to superconducting community came only now to our attention.

Martin S. (Marty) Lubell, age 79, of Oak Ridge, passed away Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, at his home in Oak Ridge. Marty was born June 5, 1932, in New York City, N.Y., graduated from MIT and got his doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley. He initially worked at the Westinghouse Research Laboratories under Clarence Zener, but in 1959 moved from Pittsburgh, PA to Oak Ridge, TN, and worked as a physicist at ORNL and Y-12 until his retirement.

Marty was the Chairman of the 1982 ASC held in Knoxville. Among other his activities, he led the Oak Ridge superconducting magnet group that put together and tested the Large Coil Task (LCT) superconducting tokamak test solenoid of the early 1980s. Each of the “D” coils of that solenoid was constructed by a different commercial company or laboratory in order to get world wide experience in the construction of these devices. Marty was publishing on the LCF test results, see RN26.

Marty was a member of the Jewish Congregation of Oak Ridge, the Knoxville Museum of Art, and the United States Chess Federation; he wrote one of the 100 Greatest Chess Problems and was the Tri-State Chess Champion when he lived in Pittsburgh. He enjoyed refereeing soccer for both the AYSO (American Youth Soccer Association) and competitive leagues, skiing and the arts.