Karl Z. Morgan (1908-1999), the father of health physics, studied physics at the University of North Carolina and Duke, earning his PhD in 1934. He chaired the Physics Department at Lenoir Rhyne College until 1943, when he joined the Metallurgical Laboratory of the University of Chicago. Transferring to Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1944, he became Director of the Health Physics Division, leading studies on the detection of ionizing radiation. Dr. Morgan was founder of the National Health Physics Society and the International Radiation Protection Association, edited Health Physics Journal and coauthored the first textbook on health physics, and became an authority on the safe limits for radionuclides in the human body. After retiring in 1972, he continued his work as a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology.