Louis A. Spomer (1940-2013) | University of Illinois Archives

Louis Art Spomer (1940-2013) became assistant professor of plant physiology at the University of Illinois in 1971, associate professor in 1976, professor in 1982, and retired as Professor Emeritus of Horticulture and Plant Sciences in 2005. Spomer's focus was in floriculture and environmental control of plant growth, and he published more than 80 journal papers and book chapters, more than 150 semi-technical publications, and more than 50 abstracts of presentations to professional society. He gave invited presentations to professional and trade societies in both the United States and Canada, and was a member of U of I interdisciplinary Bioenvironmental Research Laboratory and Plant Physiology programs. Spomer received the ACES Funk Senior Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2004 and was elected by his students to the University of Illinois "Incomplete List of Instructors Rated Excellent" sixteen times

Louis Art Spomer was born on April 17, 1940 in Denver, Colorado, to Peter John and Thelma (Pauline) Spomer. He received his bachelor in Horticulture Science (1963) from Colorado State University and his master's degree (1967) and PhD (1968/69) in Floriculture and Ornamental Horticulture from Cornell University. He was a member of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the American Society of Plant Physiologists, and the American Society of Horticulture Science. Spomer joined Colorado University's ROTC program and was a member of the Ready Reserve Mobilization Reinforcement Pool. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Spomer served as captain in the United States Army in the Chemical Corps, took courses at the Chemical Corps School in McClellan Alabama, and was stationed at the Deseret Test Center (DTC) in Fort Douglas, Utah, which was associated with Dugway Proving Ground. Established in 1962 for the purpose of "planning and conducting large scale chemical and biological operational tests", the DTC was involved in Project 112 and Project SHAD [Shipboard Hazard and Defense] among others during the Vietnam War. These projects were designed to run tests to help the United States protect and defend against chemical and biological warfare as part of which it exposed service members, local populations, wildlife, and the environment to agents such as Coxiella Burnetii and sarin. At DTC, Spomer had a security clearance of "secret" and worked with the research and experimental branch of the meteorological division developing research programs in atmospheric tracer and meteorological instrument technology. In the 1970s, Spomer informed the army that their use of Zinc Cadmium Sulfide (ZnCdS) as an atmospheric tracer in their testing of germ weapons was harmful. Because of Spomer's assertion, the army convened an inquiry into the use of ZnCdS. Spomer left the army in 1971 to join the University of Illinois, and in 1973, Spomer published an article about the dangers of ZnCdS in the journal Atmospheric Environment. After Spomer published his article, the army made the decision to stop using ZnCdS, claiming they did not realize its dangerous effects. Louis Spomer passed away at the age of 73 on July 23rd, 2013.

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