Sherwood Fawcett, the first director of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, died Feb. 3 in Upper Arlington, Ohio. Fawcett, 95, also was the president of Battelle Memorial Institute from 1968-81. Fifty years ago he came to Richland to assume control of the lab, which was being created from the former Hanford Laboratory under a contract with Battelle. He led what is now PNNL for just two years before returning to Columbus, Ohio, to serve as executive vice president and then president of Battelle Memorial Institute, but was instrumental in shaping the future of the lab in its infancy.
Under Fawcett’s leadership, the lab went from a relatively narrow research scope of developing peaceful uses of atomic energy to a multi-purpose organization, according to PNNL. Today the lab has an annual budget of close to $1 billion and less than 5 percent of its work is tied to Hanford. “It is difficult to describe the sense of excitement and challenge which we felt,” Fawcett wrote in comments on the 10th anniversary of the lab in 1975. “We viewed the founding of Battelle-Northwest as a grand experiment. We were dedicated to the concept that research and development, discoveries and inventions produce a better life for everyone.”