Harold Locke Hazen

Born August 1, 1901, Philo, Ill.; died February 21, 1980, Belmont, Mass.; early pioneer in the field of machine computation and automatic control; developer of the Hazen servo.

Education: SB, electrical engineering, MIT, 1924; SM, electrical engineering, MIT, 1929; PhD, electrical engineering, MIT, 1931.

Professional Experience: General Electric Company, Schenectady, 1924-1925; MIT: research assistant, 1925-1926, instructor, 1926-1931, assistant professor, 1931; head, Department of Electrical Engineering, 1938-1942; head, Fire Control, NRDC, 1942-1945; dean, Graduate School, 1945-1967; Robert College, Istanbul, interim president, 1961.

Honors and Awards: Levy Medal, Franklin Institute, 1935; President's Certificate of Merit, 1948.

A student of Vannevar Bush, Hazen's career followed Bush's closely in interests and positions at MIT. His contributions to the development and use of the differential analyzer earned him numerous awards, and his concern for the welfare of his students as a teacher and administrator gained him the admiration and abiding respect of his disciples.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Biographical

Brown, Gordon, "Eloge: Harold Locke Hazen, 1901-1980," Ann. Hist. Comp., Vol. 3, No. 1, 1981, pp. 4-12.

Significant Publications

Bush, V., and H. L. Hazen, "Integraph Solutions of Differential Equations," Franklin Inst., Vol. 204, Nov. 1927, pp. 575-615.

Hazen, H. L., "Theory of Servomechanisms," J Franklin Inst., Vol. 218, Sept. 1934,pp.209-331.

Hazen, H. L., "Design and Test of a High Performance Servomechanism," J Franklin Inst., Vol. 218, Nov. 1934, pp. 543-580.

Hazen, H. L., J. Jaeger, and G.S. Brown, "An Automatic Curve Follower," Rev. Scientific Instruments, Vol. 7, Sept. 1936, pp. 354-357.

Hazen, H. L., O.R. Schurig, and M.F. Gardner, "The MIT Network Analyzer, Design and Application to Power System Problems," AIEE Trans., Vol. 49, July 1930, pp. 1102-1113.

Spencer, H. H., and H. L. Hazen, "Artificial Representation of Power Systems," AIEE Trans., Vol. 44, 1925, pp. 42-79.

UPDATES

Photo added (MRW, 2013)