Skip to main content
Skip to main menu Skip to spotlight region Skip to secondary region Skip to UGA region Skip to Tertiary region Skip to Quaternary region Skip to unit footer

Slideshow

Georgia Groundbreakers: His inventions protect humans and the environment from explosives.

Image:
Valentine

 SOURCE: Athens Banner-Herald 

By James Hataway, UGA Today

This story is part of a series, called Georgia Groundbreakers, that celebrates innovative and visionary faculty, students, alumni and leaders throughout the history of the University of Georgia  – and their profound, enduring impact on our state, our nation and the world.

Valentine Nzengung has spent the vast majority of his professional career working with materials that most people avoid — explosives.

He has spent countless hours in his laboratory studying the properties of some of humanity’s most dangerous creations, from relatively simple compounds such as gunpowder to advanced chemical warfare agents. But Nzengung isn’t interested in creating these materials; he wants to destroy them.

And that’s no simple task. It is easier and far cheaper to create explosives than it is to dispose of them. The relative ease with which they are manufactured has led to stockpiles of munitions and other explosives — often the unfortunate legacy of prolonged armed conflict — that many governments and private industries would like to be rid of, and Nzengung is ready to help.

Continue reading online at Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia Groundbreakers

Your gift helps to fund research, travel, and field experience for students and faculty.