Dr. Wilmot N. Hess (October 16, 1926 – April 16, 2004) was an American physicist who was involved with many ambitious scientific projects of the 20th century, including the Plowshares project, the NASA Apollo Moon missions, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) hurricane research and oil spill cleanup research, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) weather modification research, and the US Department of Energy Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) project. Hess retired as the associate director of the US Department of Energy, to which he was first elected in 1976. He lived in California and died of leukemia on April 16, 2004, at the age of 77. Source: Wikipedia (en)