Louis Rosen, 91, one of the last surviving links to the scientific giants who had created the atomic age -- men such as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Edward Teller -- died of a subdural hematoma Aug. 15 in Albuquerque, N.M.
On May 9, 1951, on a coral atoll in the Pacific, scientists ignited what they hoped would be the first man-made thermonuclear reaction. But the explosion alone, awe-inspiring though it was, was not enough to convince Teller, considered the father of the H-bomb, that thermonuclear fusion had indeed occurred. For that he had to wait for the results of a test devised by two young fellow physicists who worked with him at Los Alamos, N.M.
The next morning, one of those colleagues, Rosen, told Teller the exhilarating news: yes, fusion had been achieved.
Rosen was a lifer at Los Alamos. Where other scientists drifted away, he spent his career there, and built the most intense atom smasher in the world. He was also part ambassador, part lobbyist for the Los Alamos National Laboratory, promoting its continuing importance as a center not only of weapons development but also of basic research.
Elliot Berlin, 55, a producer, writer and director of documentaries including "Paper Clips" (2004), which explored how a Tennessee town learned tolerance and respect for others when its children studied the Holocaust, died of colon cancer Aug. 31 in Arlington County, Va.
For 20 years, Berlin was associated with the Johnson Group, a documentary production company based in McLean, Va. A senior producer, he was known as the company's resident expert in the varied processes of filmmaking.
He was co-director, with Joe Fab, as well as co-producer, cameraman and post-production supervisor, for "Paper Clips." The documentary was named one of the five best documentaries of 2004 by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.
Wycliffe Johnson, 47, an innovative composer and producer who held sway over two decades of reggae music, died of a heart attack Tuesday in East Patchogue, N.Y.
