Doug Keough gained the respect of the researchers and technicians he worked with because of his skill in handling both the theoretical and practical aspects of problems and his willingness to help co-workers. Doug Keough was hired as a physicist in 1956 by Doc Poulter and started with a project aimed at measuring micro-meteorite momentum at impact using piezoelectric transducers. With a strong interest in electronics as well as physics, Doug was soon providing instrumentation guidance at Poulter Labs.
In 1961 Doug started a project under the leadership of Dave Bernstein to develop a transducer capable of measuring the extreme pressures of explosively generated shock waves traveling in solids (pressures of millions of pounds per square inch, lasting only a few micro-seconds). At that time, such dynamic pressures could not be measured and were calculated based on optical measurements of the interactions of shock waves with free surfaces. Although the scientific community was highly skeptical that accurate electrical measurements could be made under such extreme conditions, Doug persisted and over the next five years, he developed the necessary systems and techniques. By the late-1960s, his piezoresistive transducers had gained an initial scientific acceptance. Today, the manganin and ytterbium transducers he developed, which span a useful range of pressure measurement from 10,000 to over 10,000,000 psi, have become the standard by which other systems are judged.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Doug’s expertise in piezoresistive pressure transducers, complemented by the strong theoretical base at Poulter Labs, was pivotal in obtaining numerous projects related to Cold War research. Doug’s transducers were used in studies as diverse as laser-induced impulses on missiles, high velocity projectile impacts, and explosively generated shock waves in solids, liquids, and gases. SRI’s research made major contributions to the accurate characterization of large-scale underground detonations—work that became critical in verifying compliance with nuclear test ban treaties.
During the 1970s, Doug Keough’s expertise in shock wave propagation and dynamic pressure measurement became widely recognized, and his service on steering committees guiding national policy helped maintain SRI’s leadership role in these areas.