George Duffy ’42

George Duffy ’42, a recognized expert on shock physics, died June 2, 2022, at the age of 101.

Duffy was a professor at South Dakota State University in Brookings, teaching chemistry from 1945 to 1958 and physics from 1959 to 1991. According to his official obituary, he authored more than a dozen physics textbooks, as well as more than 75 academic articles and other professional publications. His most recent text, “Modern Physical Chemistry: A Molecular Approach,” was published in 2012. 

He grew up on a farm in Delaware County, Iowa, where he attended a one-room schoolhouse and enjoyed building technological projects and conducting experiments, often with his brother Loren Duffy ’41. At Cornell he participated in the wind ensemble and the Gamma Tau Pi fraternity, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He then attended Brown University, transferred to Princeton University, and from there received a master’s degree in 1944 and a doctoral degree in 1945, both in physical chemistry. 

He and his first wife, Helen, raised three children. Duffy enjoyed gardening, ham radio, stamp collecting, and progressive politics.

He is survived by his second wife, Joan Morgan; a daughter; a son; three granddaughters; and three great-grandsons.