Sydney Roberts with Great Uncle Charlie and Great Aunt Margo

Charles Jonah
3130 87th Street
Darien, IL 60561
630-985-5497
chuck@CharlesJonah.org

Previous Update: As you can tell, I am usually the one behind the camera; I get in pictures that my sisters take only if a grandchild is there also.

After WLHS, I went to Oberlin and got a degree in Chemistry. After Oberlin, I went to Columbia, where I got a Ph.D. in Chemistry, and a wife, Margo. Shortly thereafter I went to Argonne National Laboratory and have been here ever since, working in radiation chemistry (answering questions like: why does oxygen help radiation kill cancer cells; why are protons or alpha particles better for treating cancer; why would Three Mile Island not blow up from the hydrogen generated, etc.) Since 2002 I have been officially retired, but generally work about half time trying to develop new instruments for chemistry and physics – think Angels and Demons. (I have to do something, Margo is still teaching at Dominican University and after 30 years, she hopes to move into an office that wasn’t originally a bathroom).

We both sing with a church choir, a local community chorus, a local symphony chorus and anyone else that will have us. I have recorded and edited three CDs for friends for church fundraisers; one has sold over 1000 copies around the country (the singer sang with Robert Shaw in Atlanta for several years). I also assist Soli Deo Gloria, an organization that attempts to encourage classical sacred music. I help out by creating demo CDs, database programming, data entry, filing, and even vacuuming before visits of important people.

We both cross country ski and, since Argonne is in the center of a forest preserve, this last February, I got lots of skiing. This spring my sisters, my niece and I are to do the flying Pig 10k run in Cincinnati. We were supposed to do it last year but my niece wimped out, something about being 8-months pregnant.

2021 Update: After retiring about 2o years back, I continue to work at Argonne part time. At present, I am with a group producing radioactive isotopes for medical purposes. My (former and present) wife Margo and I are doing reasonably well and enjoy traveling, choral singing and in general, trying to keep up with thngs.