Dr. Alvin Salkind with ECS Executive Director Roque Calvo at ECS headquaters May 19, 2015.
We have some very sad news. Long time ECS member, Dr. Alvin Salkind has died. He joined The Electrochemical Society in 1953 and continued as a member in good standing for more than 62 years.
This message from his family:
Dear ECS Society members,
We are sad to let you know that our father, Dr. Alvin J. Salkind, a fellow of the Electrochemical Society, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 87. Funeral services will be on Friday, June 12 at 10am at the Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, 40 Vandeventer Ave., Princeton NJ 08542. All are welcome to join us to celebrate his life and career.
James and Susanne
The first thing you need to know is that Dr. Salkind literally wrote the books on electrochemistry and alkaline batteries: Techniques of Electrochemistry Vol 1-3 with Ernest Yeager and Alkaline Storage Batteries with S. Uno Falk.
The ECS Digital Library will give you an idea of how important he was.
To say he was a friend of the Society is an understatement. He lived near the home office and made frequent visits. The picture above is from his latest visit. He was just here May 19th so Roque Calvo, ECS Executive Director, could interview him on video about his life (we’ll have that video soon). He was a pleasure and had lots of great stories.
Below is just a little from notes we gathered from the research we dug up from various sources about Dr. Salkind as we planned for the video interview:
The majority of Alvin Salkind’s life has revolved around electrochemical technology. From being the first to build a battery into an x-ray port tracking structure with state of charge, to run-ins with Einstein’s assistant, to his resolution of the structure of AgO using neutron diffraction, to his time shared with Nobel Laureate Rudy Marcus—Dr. Salkind’s impact in electrochemistry has been vast and immense.
Dr. Salkind has worked in various battery companies in the New York area, as well as having pursed an academic career in joining the staff at Polytechnic (now part of NYU) in 1959. He went on to join ESB Central Lab, where he became president of the Technology Center and Vice-President of the parent company in 1970.
He traveled further down the path of academia that same year when he joined the staff of Rutgers Medical School, teaching in the Surgery/Bioengineering department. Here he investigated the remodeling and biofeedback properties of bones, utilize the nature of the feedback system of bone tissue for accelerating the healing process of fractures.
By 1980 Dr. Salkind returned to academia full-time, dividing his time between Rutgers and Case Western as the Executive Director of what is now the Yeager Center.
More recently, Dr. Salkind has spent time as a visiting professor at the University of Miami and CUNY. He has also been a visiting professor in Russia, Japan, China, Austria, India, Serbia, and Croatia.
Dr. Salkind is the author of over 200 articles, has over two dozen patents, and has authored or edited 17 books.
Education
- Polytechnic, PhD in Chemical Engineering
Career
- Electro Energy Inc., Chief Scientific Advisor
- PowerGenix, Inc., Strategic Advisory Board
- Rutgers Center for Energy Storage Materials and Engineering, Founder and Group Director
- Bioengineering Section of the Department of Surgery at UMDNJ/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Rutgers University, Professor and Chief
- Battery and Electrochemical Systems Center at Rutgers University, Professor and Director
- Case Western, Center for Electrochemical Sciences (Yeager Center), Executive Director
Items of Note
- Authored the ECS Monograph Alkaline Storage Batteries with S. Uno Falk
- Authored Techniques of Electrochemistry Vol 1-3 with Ernest Yeager
- Proceedings of the Symposium on History of Battery Technology
- Proceedings of the Symposium on Rechargeable Zinc Batteries : commemorating the 100th birthday of A.N. Frumkin
- Monitoring state of condition of lead-acid batteries used in utility networks
- Author or editor of 17 books
- Author of over 200 articles
- Has over 2 dozen patents
- Resolved the structure of AgO using neutron diffraction
ECS Connections
- Co-editor of 11 ECS proceedings volumes
- Inducted as ECS Fellow in 2014
- Past chair of the ECS Battery Division
- Past chair of the ECS Metropolitan Section
- Past chair of the New Technology Subcommittee (now Interdisciplinary Science & Technology Subcommittee)
