Albert Gordon Hill (1910-1996) was a physicist. He was a key leader in the development of radar in World War II, director of the MIT

Lincoln Laboratory The MIT Lincoln Laboratory, located in Lexington, Massachusetts, is a United States Department of Defense federally funded research and development center chartered to apply advanced technology to problems of national security. Research and dev ...

development of the electronic Distant Early Warning and SAGE continental air defense systems, and first chairman of The

Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Draper Laboratory is an American non-profit research and development organization, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts; its official name is The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc (sometimes abbreviated as CSDL). The laboratory specialize ...

. He died in 1996.

Biography

Hill was born in St. Louis on Jan. 11, 1910. In 1930 he received the BS in mechanical engineering from

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

and, after serving two years with Bell Telephone Laboratories, an MS in physics there (1934). He received the PhD in physics from the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...

in 1937 under the guidance of

Lee DuBridge Lee Alvin DuBridge () was an American educator and physicist, best known as president of the California Institute of Technology from 1946–1969. Background Lee Alvin DuBridge was born on , in Terre Haute, Indiana. His father was Fred DuBridge, ...

. He was an instructor in physics at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

from 1937 to 1941, when he became a staff member of the

Radiation Laboratory The Radiation Laboratory, commonly called the Rad Lab, was a microwave and radar research laboratory located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was first created in October 1940 and operated until 31 ...

at MIT, which was developing

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

for use in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Hill headed the Radio Frequency Group in the Transmitter Components division and by the end of the war was chief of the 800-person division. After the war he became associate director of the newly formed Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT, and was promoted in 1949 to its director.

Lincoln Lab The MIT Lincoln Laboratory, located in Lexington, Massachusetts, is a United States Department of Defense federally funded research and development center chartered to apply advanced technology to problems of national security. Research and de ...

was formed in 1951 at the request of the government, and Dr. Hill became its second director, leading the development of the computerized SAGE (

Semi-Automatic Ground Environment The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) was a system of mainframe computer, large computers and associated computer network, networking equipment that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it to produce a single unified image ...

) air defense system and the DEW line of radar sets stretching from northern Alaska to Greenland. He helped establish in 1955 the SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers Europe) Technical Center in The Hague and the NATO Communications Line, extending from northern Norway to eastern Turkey. In 1956, Hill went to Washington to serve as director for the

Weapons Systems Evaluation Group The Weapons Systems Evaluation Group (abbreviated WSEG) was formed in 1949 to carry out Operational Research work for the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States Army and the United States Secretary of Defense. The group oversaw the appraisal of ...

and vice president and director of research for the Institute for Defense Analyses. He returned to MIT in 1959 and resumed teaching physics. In 1965, he also became a lecturer in the Department of Political Science. In 1970, he was appointed to the new position of vice president for research, supervising research administration on campus and the special laboratories (Lincoln Lab and the Instrumentation Lab). In May 1970, MIT formally divested itself of the Instrumentation Lab, which under the direction of

Charles Stark Draper Charles Stark "Doc" Draper (October 2, 1901 – July 25, 1987) was an American scientist and engineer, known as the "father of inertial navigation". He was the founder and director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Instrumentati ...

had developed the gyroscope and the inertial guidance system and had guided Apollo XI to the moon in July 1969. Dr. Hill, still vice president of research, became the chairman of the independent board of directors of the laboratory, renamed the

in honor of its founder. Draper Lab remained a division of MIT for three years and became independent in 1973. In 1984, the Draper Laboratory dedicated the Albert G. Hill Building at One Hampshire Street in Cambridge.

Advocacy

Hill was an important advocate for equal opportunity and affirmative action at MIT, and he personally recruited African-American graduate students and faculty to the

MIT Department of Physics The MIT Department of Physics has over 120 faculty members, is often cited as the largest physics department in the United States, and hosts top-ranked programs. It offers the SB, SM, PhD, and ScD degrees. Fourteen alumni of the department and ...

. He chaired the committee which began MIT's Office of Minority Education. MIT named the Albert G. Hill Prize for undergraduates in his honor.

Positions

* Professor of Physics, MIT * Staff,

MIT Radiation Laboratory The Radiation Laboratory, commonly called the Rad Lab, was a microwave and radar research laboratory located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was first created in October 1940 and operated until 31 ...

* Director of the Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT * Director,

* Chairman, Charles Stark Draper Laboratory

Honors

* Fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

, 1941 * Presidential Certificate of Merit, 1948 * Air Force Distinguished Civilian Service Medal, 1955 * Washington University Distinguished Alumni Citation, 1955 * Secretary of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Medal, 1959 * Washington University School of Engineering Alumni Achievement Award, 1991

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Albert G. 1910 births 1996 deaths 20th-century American physicists Washington University physicists Physicists from Missouri Scientists from St. Louis MIT Lincoln Laboratory people Fellows of the American Physical Society McKelvey School of Engineering alumni University of Rochester alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty

Biography

Advocacy

Positions

Honors

See also

References