In Memoriam
August 18, 2006
Message from Assistant Secretary Alexander Karsner
It is with deep sympathies that I note the passing of Dr. Iris Ovshinsky, co-founder, vice president and a director of ECD Ovonics, a leading American solar energy technology company.
Along with her husband, Dr. Stan Ovshinsky, Iris founded ECD Ovonics in 1960 and has played a leadership role in making important scientific advances ever since. ECD Ovonics has grown into a multi-disciplinary business and scientific, technical and manufacturing organization in the fields of alternative energy generation, energy storage and information technologies. In 2000, Iris was named a "Hero of Chemistry" by the American Chemical Society along with her husband as "chemical innovators whose industrial work in chemistry or chemical engineering has made significant and lasting contributions to global human welfare."
The loss of Dr. Iris Ovshinsky is truly a loss for the entire scientific community. Her many scientific contributions over the last five decades have been immensely valuable to our knowledgebase as a nation, and to the social betterment of the entire world. She was an inspiration to all and will be sorely missed.
