[shoedog]

Forgive some family vanity but Uncle Larry was an amazing man. I only met him three or four times but the memories lasted. He met my girlfriend (now wife) on my first visit to meet my family. They agreed the best way to hang the toilet paper (I believe under not over). He had a great sense of humor that belied his great intelligence.

[null and void]

They agreed the best way to hang the toilet paper (I believe under not over).

Clearly the three blast scrambled his brains...

[Vineyard]

Thanks for sharing....very interesting obit on an obviously VERY intelligent man.

BTW - he and your wife are correct ....Under is safer than Over...because if a bored little kid is sitting on the pot and starts hitting the roll - in the over position, the paper will quickly spool off and be wasted!! [VBG]

[Darksheare]

From back when they built engineers that actually, well.. engineered.
Not like these days where everything is computerized.

[familyop]

How old was he, when he passed away?

[Joe 6-pack]

Fascinating read; RIP Uncle Larry.

[OldMissileer]

How was he an eye witness to the two detonations in Japan? There were no crew members with that name on board the aircraft.

Was he in one of the camera/chase planes?

[SnuffaBolshevik]

"Johnston designed the first atomic bomb detonator...."

Amazing. How would you even start on that (in the early 40's)?

[KarlInOhio]

In 1967, the Johnstons moved to Moscow where he served as physics professor at the University of Idaho

Communists have stolen our colleges! Oh, Moscow, Idaho.

He sounds like he's had a very interesting life.

[DBrow]

Where would he have seen the Japanese detonations? What location or platform?

I thought that Jacob Beser was the only one to have seen both of them.

[DoughtyOne]

Very nice obituary...

I too subscribe to the theory that ‘the bomb’ actually saved many lives. It is also quite clear that if he and the full team hadn’t been the first to develop ‘the bomb’, there would have been hell to pay. Germany, Japan, Russia? No thanks.

As for the t.p. installation, it’s my take that over allows your hands to come into less contact with the wall. For the times when more than one application is needed, it’s more sanitary not to come into contact with the wall at all.

Thanks for letting us read the interesting information about your uncle.

Very nice.

We are indebted to him IMO.

[LonePalm]

I am indebted to your uncle for his work. Without the atomic bombs ending the war when they did, I might not be here.

My father and his twin brother were scheduled to be landing craft drivers in the invasion of Japan.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[wjcsux]

later

[Mr. Lucky]

Your uncle was a truly great American, but his obituary is marred by the author's weak grasp of history.

(A 1943 invention would not have been "crucial" to the Battle of Britain - a battle which concluded in 1940)

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Thanks for posting your Uncle’s obituary. He was a terrific man, husband and father. You are clearly very proud of him.

My Dad and his brother both went to the University of Idaho in Moscow. Both studied mechanical engineering and the Army sent my uncle to Oak Ridge where he helped run the thermal diffusion plant to produce enriched uranium for the bomb. He taught local farm boys fresh off the farm how to run the equipment. After the war, he machined plutonium components at Los Alamos for bomb tests in the Pacific. He went on to get a PhD and had a very successful career as an orthodontist.