EASTON, Pa.(www.lafayette.edu), November 5, 2007 — The awards given at Saturday’s annual luncheon honoring outstanding alumni volunteers included the posthumous presentation of the George Washington Kidd 1836 Award to Albert Rudolph Kaufmann ’33. The Kidd Award is presented to an alumna or alumnus who has earned career distinction. Named after the College’s first graduate, it is given without regard to service to the College.
The citation for the award:
“The second of three brothers to attend Lafayette, Al Kaufmann displayed the brilliance and leadership that would later distinguish him in his career. He served as president of Lafayette's chapter of the American Society of Metallurgical Engineers, was elected to both Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi, and received his B.S. degree summa cum laude – a record of undergraduate achievement that prepared him well for his pursuit of a doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was awarded that degree in 1938 and joined MIT's metallurgy department as an assistant professor.
“In 1942 he co-founded the MIT Metallurgical Project of the Manhattan Project and became the program's technical director four years later. Because of the exceptionally secretive conditions under which the atomic bomb was developed, the groundbreaking role that he and other gifted engineers and scientists played was never fully disclosed, though his leadership and technical proficiency were still spoken of with great respect and admiration decades later by those who had worked most closely with him. He devoted his efforts in peacetime to Nuclear Metals, Inc., a cutting-edge company he founded and which he guided expertly until his retirement in 1970. He died in 1974.
“Professor Morris Cohen, one of Al. Kaufmann's closest associates at MIT, described him as "a very special kind of human being [who] touched us all in so many ways – and caused us to think more deeply about our lives, our beliefs, and our values." In presenting the Kidd Award to Dr. Kaufmann, we record our pride in his exceptional achievements in the field of nuclear energy, achievements for which he was recognized in this country and internationally. On this occasion we honor, as well, the personal traits that so endeared him to his colleagues: his kindness and modesty, his vitality, his integrity, his keen wit, his free spirit, and above all his humanity.”
