Inventor helps bring ideas to life for more than 35 years

Tell Eugene Snowden it can't be done and he will prove you wrong.

Snowden-one of Wayne State University's best-kept secrets-is a scientific instrument designer who got his start working with NASA on rocket engines and a focusing system for a moon camera. He has collaborated with WSU researchers for more than 35 years to help make their ideas come to life.

Included among his many projects are: detectors and other scientific instruments for the CERN atom smasher; building one of the first electrophoresis machines to map DNA; and creating devices to help soldiers in combat. In Mexico, grocers still sell unrefrigerated bags of milk thanks to a cesium irradiator machine he built 30 years ago

He's currently working on his third atom smasher device machine, which will be shipped to an accelerator in Japan, and other grant-funded work for the university. He also helps engineering student teams in their quests to build concrete canoes, race cars and hybrid vehicles.

The modern-day inventor and lifelong learner also is one of the coolest grandparents around. By night he star-gazes with his wife, children and six grandchildren through a large reflecting telescope with a clear body and an automatic object finder-his own design of course. And in his spare time he tinkers with his one-of-a-kind motorcycle-the only street legal road vehicle in the world with a high-pressure hydraulic drive-and his new 2013 Mustang convertible.

"I enjoy the challenge of creating things," he says. "So far I have been batting 1000 and have never had a machine I built not work. This is because of the advice my grandpa gave me. 'When something is not working don't beat your head against the wall over and over. Try doing something different like the exact opposite until a solution is found.' He also told me to never give up. He was the best teacher I ever had and quite the inventor himself."