Published: Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Well-grounded physicist led quiet, inventive life
by "Science from the sidelines" columnist Dave Brooks
Patents about better chemistry for superconductors and faster hand-drying in bathrooms, about secure time stamps for computer files and remote lighting of appliances, about magnetic heat pumps and disposable paper cups.
That's a lot of intellectual ground for one man to cover.
"When you have an active mind, a busy brain – you can do more!" said Urszula Hed, of Nashua, speaking of her late husband, Zeev, a physicist who turned the joy of invention into a profession. "I lived with him so long I didn't think it was unusual."
Hed died earlier this month at age 69 after a short illness, stilling what had been a very active mind, indeed. He was involved in at least 45 U.S. patents, including those cited above, plus an equal number of international ones. For decades he slew corporations' intellectual dragons as part of an unusual inventor-for-hire company in Massachusetts.
"He was really a generalist," said longtime business partner Richard Pavelle, one of four men who made up the firm Invent Resources. "He had expertise in chemistry, biology, medical instrumentation, medicine, music history . . . and a degree in physics. He and I would be on the phone with experts at various companies, and the remarkable thing was that after a couple of minutes in these meetings, it was clear to everybody there that he knew more than the experts."
His motto as an inventor, as I was told by everybody I talked to about him, was simple: "I am too stupid to know it cannot be done." If it wasn't perpetual motion or other violation of the laws of nature, he was willing to take a shot.
He and his family lived in Nashua for a quarter-century, since he first came up from the New York area to take a corporate job he quickly ditched. All four of their children were raised here.
So why haven't you ever heard of him? More importantly, why haven't I?
My first inkling of this amazing man, I must admit, came last week when anonymous e-mails landed at The Telegraph, asking about his death. It turns out they were from fans at an online personal finance forum where Hed had posted free advice for years.
"I have been corresponding with him for nearly 15 years, both publicly and privately. The world has lost a true champion and a humble, giving soul," wrote one of these people in response to my query. "I would write more but tears are dripping into my keyboard again."
Urszula Hed said the family wasn't known here because they were more oriented south of the border, for business and personal reasons (the kids all went to private schools).
And Zeev Hed didn't go public, as many would have, about his astonishing life.
His father was born in Cologne, Germany, and his mother in Lodz, Poland – not great places to be in the early years of the 20th century if you were Jewish. His siblings were born in Germany, but by the time he came along, his parents had gone to Belgium to avoid the Nazis.
It didn't work, unfortunately; both his parents were killed as part of the resistance, and Hed ended up as one of a group of children who fled the Nazis during World War II, moving from location to location until they were finally rescued by Allied forces.
"He learned to read by drawing letters in the sand," said his wife.
Hed was taken to Israel, where he grew up on a kibbutz. Eventually he got a doctorate in solid-state physics and made it, like so many bright, post-war children, to the United States.
He worked for companies and on his own, before hooking up with three other, like-minded engineer scientists to create Invent Resources. Companies came to them with problems they needed solving.
"There are many Fortune 500 companies that have virtually no technical ability in house," said Pavelle.
So the quartet got to do the enjoyable part of R&D – that is, the R. What happened afterward wasn't their problem.
"We did the fun work," said Pavelle. "Clearly, in any product development, the most difficult part is the marketing . . . It's not uncommon for a company to spend 20-30 million (dollars) on a new product that never sees the light of day for whatever reason."
This unusual career allowed Hed to work mostly at home, cranking out patents and helping companies from the huge to the startup.
There are a surprising number of very clever but overlooked people like Hed around, doing amazing stuff with no recognition. I'm sorry I didn't know about him while he was still alive; but perhaps that's the way he liked it.
His wife told me about a job interview in which the not-particularly lofty Hed said he should be hired "because I'm the tallest man you've ever met."
The reason for that odd boast?
"He told them, 'I have my feet on the ground and my head in the clouds,' " Urszula Hed said. "That's what he was like."
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