Edgar Charles Barnes

Edgar Charles Barnes (6 April 1909 – 27 December 1987) was a pioneer in the field of industrial hygiene and the first industrial hygienist to work for a major U.S. corporation. He was also a founding member and director of the Health Physics Society.

Life's Work and Education

Edgar Charles Barnes was the son of Claude Barnes and Clara Gamble. On 19 August 1931, Edgar Charles Barnes married Eleanor Frances Sykes. They had a son, Robert Charles and daughter, Eleanor Elizabeth. They resided at 316 Ninth Street in Edgewood, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Barnes graduated in 1930 from Pennsylvania State University with a B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering.

Westinghouse

He started in General Engineering at Westinghouse Electric Corporation and in 1933 formed the industrial hygiene section. At the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory from 1949 – 1960 Barnes led the Industrial Hygiene and Safety Program. In 1960 Barnes was promoted to Headquarters Director of Radiation Protection for Corporate Nuclear Activities.

Professional Activities

Health Physics Society

• Director, founding member

In the midyear issue of Science the announcement came of the formation new national scientific organization for health physicists at the 3 day Health Physics Conference at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio on 14 June 1955.^[1] The organization was temporarily named "Health Physics Society", and Karl Z. Morgan of the Health Physics Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory was elected interim president. Other interim officers are:

• Frederick P. Cowan, Head, Health Physics Division Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, N.Y., vice president, and
• Elda E. Anderson, director of the education and training department of the Health Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, secretary-treasurer.

First Board of Directors

Talks regarding the formation of a professional society had been ongoing for several years. The health physicists had decided to form an independent organization rather than attach to an existing group.
Directors of the Health Physics Society included:

• Herbert Mermagen, University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.
• Edgar Charles Barnes, manager of industrial hygiene, Westinghouse Atomic Power Division, Bettis Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• John W. 'Jack' Healy, General Electric Co., Hanford, Washington
• William Taylor Ham, professor of biophysics, Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
• C. Maurice Patterson, DuPont Atomic Energy Plant, Aiken, S.C.
• G. W. C. Tait, Health Physics Branch, Atomic Energy Co. of Canada, Ltd., Chalk River, Ontario, Canada
• Francis J. Bradley, superintendent of radiation safety at Ohio State University and organizer of the first Health Physics Society Conference
• William E. Nolan, Radiation Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California
• Walter Dunhan Claus, (annual salary $12,000), Division of Biology and Medicine, Biophysics Branch, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, D.C.^[2]
• John E. Pickering, department of radiobiology, School of Aviation Medicine, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas

American Industrial Hygiene Association

• President
• Secretary

American Public Health Association

In 1936 Barnes applied for membership to the American Public Health Association, Industrial Hygiene Section.^[3]

In 1946 Barnes was elected as a Fellow of the American Public Health Association, Industrial Hygiene Section.^[4]

National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements

• Board of Directors
• AIHA liaison

American National Standards Institute

Nuclear Standards Board

• AIHA representative
• Vice Chairman
• Executive Committee

International Organization for Standardization

• Chairman, Nuclear Standards Subcommittee

Awards and Honors

• Westinghouse Order of Merit, 1945
  • The Sunday edition of The Pittsburgh Press on 28 January 1945 announced that Edgar C. Barnes of Edgewood, Pennsylvania an industrial hygiene engineer was awarded the Westinghouse Order of Merit. The award consists of a citation and bronze plaque.^[5]
• American Society of Safety Engineers Fellow Award, 1962
• Donald E. Cummings Memorial Award, 1970
  • In 1943 the award was established to honor AIHA's third president Donald E. Cummings. Awarded for “outstanding contributions to the knowledge and practice of the profession of industrial hygiene”. Recipient delivers the Cummings Memorial Lecture at the AIHA annual conference. This is the highest honor from the AIHA.^[6]

Patents

• Electrostatic Dust Weight Sampler^[7]

Publications

• The Spectrums in Industrial Hygiene^[8]

References

1. "News of Science". Science 122 (15 July 1955): 112. 15 July 1955. doi:10.1126/science.122.3159.112.
2. Official Register of the United States, 1952. U.S. Civil Service Commission, Washington, D.C.
3. http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.25.10.1165
4. http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.36.1.80
5. 7 Westinghouse Employees Honored, The Pittsburg Press, (28 January 1945), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, p.10.
6. https://www.aiha.org/get-involved/outreach/Pages/Donald-E.-Cummings-Memorial-Award.aspx
7. Penney, G. W., & Barnes, E. C. (5 January 1943). "Electrostatic dust sampler." U.S. Patent No. 2,307,602. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
8. Barnes, E. C. (1970). The Spectrums in Industrial Hygiene. The American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal, 31(3), 265-276.