Dr Lembit Salasoo Obituary - 10 March 1956 to 17

August 2024

Compiled by Elizabeth O’Brien, The LEAD Group Inc. Photo (at left) from

https://www.dailygazette.com/obituaries/lembit-salasoo/article_b817c332-4d17-

5282-8f28-00ed8ba9ee8e.html

It is with great sadness that I report to our readers, the death of a

wonderful electrical engineer, musician, dancer, family-man and

mentor to many Estonian people making their way in Estonian

diasporas in Australia and the United States.

Fifty-two years ago, I became friends (at Chatswood High School,

Sydney, Australia) with Lembit Salasoo, and I made everyone laugh, when, around the

final exams, Lembit’s mother asked me what career I had chosen and I answered, “I’d like

to work in pollution”. It was the first time I had ever expressed my aim of “working in

pollution” and so it has been for half my life now. Lembit and I then attended Sydney

University together too (and his mother was one of my tutors in Biology), and after having

three children I then became a Lead Poisoning Prevention Expert and corresponded with

Lembit throughout his further studies, early career and move to General Electric in the US.

When we found that we both worked in the environmental arena (see his 2001 email to my

global lead information and referral service below as an example), we kept in contact in a

professional capacity too. It is for all these reasons that I’m publishing an Obituary about

Lembit’s contribution to electrical engineering while at General Electric, to reducing lead-

use and to averting climate change.

Below I also include: “Lembit Salasoo: Official GE Retirement Announcement” regarding

Lembit’s awards and many patents and how he contributed to electrification of vehicles

and other climate change mitigation measures.

From: Lembit Salasoo

Sent: Monday, 5 February 2001 11:41 AM

To: Elizabeth O'Brien

Subject: Pb

To the lead queen:

P.S. one of my current projects involves replacing lead shielding in parts of medical xray

equipment with equally effective but more benign materials.

Any links/leads on suitable stuff? Is bismuth bad...

yours in the environment,

Lembit

Sent: Wednesday, July 3, 2024 at 09:21:32 AM EDT

Subject: Lembit Salasoo: Retirement Announcement

Dear Colleagues,

It is with mixed emotions that I announce the retirement of Lembit Salasoo, Senior Research

Scientist, effective July 1st, 2024.

Lembit has been a significant member of and strong research contributor to the GE Global

Research Center for over 36 years. Throughout his tenure, Lembit has led numerous

groundbreaking projects, leaving a lasting mark on our team and the research community at

large. Evolution of Lembit’s remarkable career reflects the research center’s fast adaptation

to GE’s technology needs in its legacy businesses.

Lembit joined GE Research in 1987 as part of the Superconducting Magnet group after

acquiring his Ph.D. from RPI [Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute] in Electric and Power

Engineering. His initial focus was to perform quench analysis of conduction cooled MRI

magnets. Turning to anomalous heat transfer performance observed in the Gemini CT tube,

Lembit developed a widely used engineering analysis tool for CT Tube secondary electron

emission heat transfer. Through this work, Lembit and the Gemini CT tube team won the

prestigious Dushman Award in 1998.

In the early 2000’s Lembit’s research focus was extended to

the electric transportation lab to analyze hybrid electric

transit buses, hybrid locomotives and mine trucks. Lembit

was part of the joint Research GE Transportation team that

conducted a proof-of-principle hybrid locomotive

demonstration at Union Station in Los Angeles (part of GE’s

Ecomagination initiative). During these years Lembit also led

a ‘CEO program’ which included concept development for

underground-mine-truck-as-a-sensor including proof of

principle demonstrations of key subsystems.

Between 2015-2020 Lembit contributed to metal additive

manufacturing programs to develop in-situ models for defect

detection.

Lembit’s most recent contribution was in the field of Aerospace Climate Research and

Sustainability. Starting in this program in 2021 he quickly established partnerships with

world class external expertise and positioned the Aerospace Climate Research team to be a

respected voice among the rapidly evolving aviation climate industry’s external

stakeholders. As a proposal PI, Lembit has led the climate research team to win ARPAe

EPICTrails program in 2023.

In his 36+ year GE career, Lembit has been awarded 68 patents, 2 Dushman Awards, and

numerous team recognitions. It has been an honor to work with Lembit shoulder to shoulder

as we strive to bring external recognition to our newly established Aerospace Climate Impact

modeling capabilities to our lab. Please join me in extending my deepest thanks to Lembit

Salasoo for his exceptional service and contributions. His legacy will continue to inspire us

all.

Best Regards,

Banu

Banu Gemici-Ozkan, Ph.D.

Technology Manager, Optimization

GE Aerospace Research

1 Research Circle K1 5A46A

Niskayuna, NY 12309