Charles & Edna Tucker

Charles W. Tucker, Jr. spent his entire professional career with the General Electric Company. Born in New Jersey in 1917, he earned a B.S. in chemical engineering from Cooper Union in 1941 and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Lehigh University in 1947. In 1951 he married Edna A. Learned; they adopted two sons, and lived together until her death in 1989. Tucker joined GE's Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in 1947 and became Manager of Solid State and Atomic Physics there in 1956. The following year he moved to the GE Research Laboratory in Schenectady, NY, where he conducted research until his retirement in 1980.

To his initial training in chemistry Tucker added interests in physics and crystallography, doing fundamental work in areas including radiation effects and the structure and properties of surfaces. His primary professional society was the American Physical Society. He published numerous scientific papers in the Physical Review, Journal of Applied Physics, Acta Crystallographica, etc., and participated in national and international conferences. Outside of work his interests included boating, gardening, and service on his local Board of Education. He died in 1995.

The Tuckers generously bequeathed over $100,000, a significant portion of their estate, to the AIP Center for History of Physics. It was added to the Endowment Fund established by the Friends of the Center; the income will be used to enhance the Center's services to historians, educators and others, and perpetuate these services for generations to come.