Career After NASA
After returning to Earth, Van den Berg continued to work on crystal growth experiments at EG&G in California and he became the head for the section of materials science. At a later time he moved to Florida to become a chief scientist at the Constellation Technology Corporation. At age 72, he continued to work up to 40 hours a week and grow crystals, a process he compares to gardening. The crystals he grows (Mercuric Iodide crystals) are used to make precision detectors for nuclear radiation. These detectors are used in medical applications, by the defense industry and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
He visits the Netherlands every two years, and was the subject of a short 2004 documentary by Netwerk called: The `forgotten astronaut`.
Read more about this topic: Lodewijk Van Den Berg
Famous quotes containing the words career and/or nasa:
“It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“If we did not have such a thing as an airplane today, we would probably create something the size of NASA to make one.”
—H. Ross Perot (b. 1930)