Nuclear engineer Henry Jacob Gomberg was a faculty member at the University of Michigan from 1946 to 1961 as well as director of the Puerto Rico Nuclear Center. He later worked for nuclear engineering business in the private sector. The Gomberg collection mainly contains materials from his numerous professional ventures in the nuclear energy field. It includes correspondence, personal notes, photographs, publications, and reports.
The Henry J. Gomberg collection, covering the period of 1941 to 1995, is divided into nine series: Central American Peace Interests; Class Notes; International Cooperation Administration (ICA); KMS Industries; Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy; Personal / Biographical; Puerto Rico; University of Michigan, and Visual Material.
Henry J. Gomberg was born in New York City on April 16, 1918. He began his higher education at the City College of New York before transferring to the University of Michigan. While at Michigan, Gomberg earned his B.S.E. (1941), M.S.E. (1943), and Ph.D. (1951) in electrical engineering.
In 1941, Gomberg began his teaching career at the University of Michigan while working on his Ph.D.; he was appointed as a Teaching Fellow from 1941 to 1942. He served as a member of the faculty of nuclear engineering from 1946 to 1961. In 1952, he received the University's prestigious Henry Russel Award which honors faculty who show great promise for the future. From 1958 to 1961, he served as chairman of the Nuclear Engineering Department. Gomberg was also the director of the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project, which was dedicated to the memory of university students who had died in World War II. The project was created to explore the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Gomberg received a number of awards and honors and likewise held many positions throughout his career. In addition to the above, he served as president and chief executive officer of KMS Fusion and KMS Industries in Ann Arbor, Michigan, from 1971 to 1980. He was also the founder of Ann Arbor Nuclear Inc. His interests were varied but are best represented by his research in nuclear energy and his involvement in the Central American Coalition for Peace, which aimed to stop guerrilla warfare and improve relations between Central American nations and the United States.
Henry J. Gomberg died on April 8, 1995 at the age of seventy six.
