February 26, 2025, 9:30AMUpdated February 26, 2025, 9:30AMNuclear NewsEd Warman Ed Warman in 1990 (left), when he was named an ANS Fellow, and in 2019 (right) with a great-granddaughter, who is wearing a Soviet hat that was bought from a Russian soldier the day before the Red Army evacuated Prague in 1991.
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When I graduated from Scranton University in 1956 with a B.S. in physics, I was in awe of the nuclear era and determined to be part of a nuclear future. Fortunately, I landed a position with Pratt & Whitney Aircraft as part of the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program. The position included a one-year assignment as a visiting staff member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Left: Behrens as a physics lecturer in 1969 at the University of Illinois—Urbana-Champaign. Right: Behrens at home today with his new pup Snowflake.
We welcome ANS members who have careered in the community to submit their own Nuclear Legacy stories, so that the personal history of nuclear power can be captured. For information on submitting your stories, contact nucnews@ans.org.
The James Wm. Behrens family legacy in America starts with Henry H. Behrens, who came across the pond from Germany in 1857. He was later joined by Wilhelmina, also from Germany, and they were married in Alton, Ill., in about 1862. One of their sons, George Wm. Sr., was my grandfather. He and his wife, Frances Walker (of Irish and English descent), had three sons, one of whom (George Wm. Jr.) was my father. I was born in 1947 and raised in the small country town of Bunker Hill, Ill. I attended Bunker Hill elementary and high schools, graduating from the latter in 1965.
