Neil P. Ruzic
Former Member of the National Space Society Board of Governors
The late Neil Ruzic was the founder and publisher of several worldwide scientific magazines, including Industrial Research and Oceanology International, as well as the author of over 250 articles and 10 books. Several of these books serve as bridges between various science disciplines and laymen, including The Case For Going To The Moon and Where the Winds Sleep (a future history of the colonization of the Moon for science). He also wrote books for teenagers to interest them in following scientific careers. His novel, The Shallow Sea, was set on the island in the Bahamas that he developed as a center for mariculture, wind and solar energy, and drugs from the sea research.
Mr. Ruzic made several inventions, and held the first U.S. patent for a device to be used on the Moon, a lunar cryostat. He originated the R&D 100 annual awards program, the “Nobel Prize” for applied physical research scientists and engineers.
Neil Ruzic was an instrument-rated private pilot, tournament chess player, member of the Explorers’ Club, and a director of the Lymphoma Research Foundation of America. He also established the Ruzic Research Foundation Inc., a nonprofit corporation to catalyze and help fund research in the fields of cancer and other sciences. Ruzic succumbed to lymphoma in 2004.
