Biographical note

George Wheeler Hinman was born in Evanston, Illinois, in 1927. He attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, earning bachelor’s degrees in math and physics, followed by a master's degree and a doctorate, also in physics. In 1955, he and Mary Cauffield were married; they later had three children. Hinman taught physics at the Carnegie Institute of Technology until 1963. He worked for General Atomic in La Jolla, California, then, in 1969, moved with his family to Pullman, Washington, in 1969, where he served as the director of the Nuclear Radiation Center at Washington State University, and also taught physics. In the 1970s, Hinman became involved in environmental and energy issues and joined the Energy Policy Council to forecast energy consumption in the Pacific Northwest. He retired from Washington State University in 1997, but continued to teach classes. Hinman died in 2018.

Sources: Vital records on Ancestry.com; information provided by Hinman in his interview; Hinman’s obituary, 2018 (accessed February 2026), https://www.gardencityfh.com/obituaries/george-hinman-iii.

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