Harry Lonsdale

Harold K. Lonsdale (January 19, 1932 – November 11, 2014) was an American scientist, businessman, and politician. A Democrat, he ran for United States Senate in the U.S. state of Oregon three times, losing twice in the primaries and once as the Democratic candidate, losing in the 1990 general election to incumbent Republican Mark Hatfield. In 2011 Lonsdale sponsored a research challenge to determine the origin of life on Earth.

Early life Lonsdale was born in Westfield, New Jersey, the son of a Sicilian immigrant mother and a Welsh father who had been orphaned at age 2. In 1953, he received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Rutgers University and four years later received a Ph.D. in chemistry from Penn State University. Soon afterward, Lonsdale quit Alza and the family moved to Bend, Oregon, where with his partner Richard Baker, he started Bend Research, Inc., a company focused on development of new technologies for industries such as the pharmaceutical industry. Lonsdale also refused to take special-interest contributions in his campaign, instead financing the campaign himself. Hatfield turned the environment issue against Lonsdale, accusing him of hypocrisy by presenting allegations that Lonsdale had allowed his company to dispose of toxic waste into the environment. The change of tactics stalled Lonsdale's momentum, and Hatfield would win the election handily, though this would be his last Senate campaign.

1992 Senate election

In 1991, Lonsdale made plans for another Senate run at Oregon's other Senate seat, this one held by Bob Packwood. This time, he received a stronger challenge for the Democratic nomination, chiefly from U.S. Congressman Les AuCoin, who resigned his seat in Oregon's 1st congressional district to run for the Senate. Lonsdale also criticized AuCoin's ties to the timber industry. AuCoin turned accusations of undue influence back on Lonsdale, pointing out that Bend Research had received millions in federal defense contracts, and noted Lonsdale's reversal of support for nuclear power and belated opposition to the re-opening of Trojan Nuclear Power Plant. Lonsdale received surprising support from Packwood, who believed AuCoin to be a stronger competitor, and ran television ads against AuCoin.

The results of the Democratic primary were so close that an automatic recount was triggered. Upon conceding the race, Lonsdale pondered mounting a write-in campaign, reiterating that Oregon needed an "outsider" in the Senate. Lonsdale would receive fewer than 6,000 write-in votes in the general election, in which Packwood won re-election.

1996 Senate election

Following Hatfield's retirement from the Senate in 1996, Lonsdale ran again in the 1996 primary, but lost to Mentor Graphics founder Tom Bruggere by a wide margin.

Other campaigns Lonsdale did not seek office again, though he sponsored several petitions related to campaign finance reform through the early 2000s. In 2006, one of his sponsored measures limiting campaign financing, Measure 47, passed, but did not go into effect because a companion measure (Measure 46) that would have amended the Oregon Constitution to allow limitations on campaign financing failed to pass.

Scientific endeavors In 2011, Lonsdale, an avowed atheist, announced a $50,000 award to the best proposal that offered "a cogent hypothesis for how life first arose, including its plausible chemistry, and for how primitive life could have evolved to modern biological cells, including the present genetic material and metabolism." and in June 2012 the prize was awarded to chemists John Sutherland and Matthew Powner.

Personal Lonsdale married his high-school sweetheart Connie shortly after graduating from Rutgers. and moved to Southern California, where he died after suffering a heart attack in 2014.