Joe Michael
Emeritus Scientist Joe Michael died on Sunday, March 17, 2019, at age 83. He was a long-term member of the laboratory’s Chemical Dynamics Group in the Chemical Sciences and Engineering division. He worked at Argonne from 1987 until his retirement in 2015.
Michael was a world leader in using shock tubes to study chemical kinetics at high temperatures. He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, American Geophysical Union and Sigma Xi. He had recently been named a Fellow of the Combustion Institute for his pioneering contributions to the measurement of absolute rate constants for elementary reactions in combustion and atmospheric chemistry.
Michael mentored numerous graduate students throughout his career, many of whom have gone on to distinguished careers in academia and industry. He was actively involved in his experiments right up to his retirement at the age of 80. Michael subsequently became an Argonne Emeritus Fellow, a status allocated only to a select few lab scientist retirees, and continued to come in regularly and contribute scientifically.
Michael was raised in South Whitley, Indiana, and received a B.A. in chemistry from Wabash College and a Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in New York.
Joe Michael
Michael is survived by his wife Valerie, five children and ten grandchildren.
Visitation is Friday, March 22, 2019, 4-8 p.m. at Friedrich-Jones Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 44 S. Mill St., Naperville, IL.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, March 23, at noon in the funeral home. Interment is private.