Arthur David Hall III (April 13, 1925 – March 31, 2006) was an American

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

and a pioneer in the field of

systems engineering Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their enterprise life cycle, life cycles. At its core, systems engineering util ...

. He was the author of a widely used engineering textbook ''A Methodology for Systems Engineering'' from 1962.

Early life

Hall was born on April 13, 1924, in

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch (1740–1820), John Lynch, the city's populati ...

. He attended Brookville High School. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II. After the war he studied

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

at Princeton University, graduating in 1949.

Career

He started his career as electrical engineer for Bell Labs, where he worked for many years. In the 1950s he started his own consulting business, and in the 1960s, Hall was faculty member at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He is known as the author of a widely used engineering textbook ''A Methodology for Systems Engineering'' from 1962. Hall was a founding member of the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

. In 1965, Hall was the first editor of the IEEE Transactions on Systems Science and Cybernetics. Hall later became a senior IEEE fellow. He made contributions to systems engineering methodology, and applications to telecommunications policy and practice. Hall is listed in ''Who's Who Men of Science'' as the father of the "picture telephone", and creator of the patented "Auto Farm System", which provides global positioning equipment for precision farming. His further hobbies included flying, yachting, photography, and

gardening Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of horticulture. In gardens, ornamental plants are often grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants, such as root vegetables, leaf vegetables, fruits ...

Later life

He died on March 31, 2006, in

Fredericksburg, Virginia Fredericksburg is an independent city located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,982. The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United States Department of Commerce combines the city of Fredericksburg wi ...

Publications

Hall wrote several textbooks and articles on systems and systems engineering. Books: * 1962, ''A Methodology for Systems Engineering''. * 1989, ''Metasystems Methodology'', Oxford, England: Pergamon Press. Articles, a selection: * 1956, "Definition of System", with Robert E. Fagen, in: ''General Systems'', 1 (1956), p. 18. * 1965, "Systems Engineering from an Engineering Viewpoint" in: IEEE Transactions on Systems Science and Cybernetics, Nov. 1965, Volume: 1, Issue: 1. On page(s): 4-8 * 1969, "Three-Dimensional Morphology of Systems Engineering", in: IEEE Transactions on Systems Science and Cybernetics. 5(2) pp. 156–160. * 1975, "Who Is Afraid of Systems Methodology?", in: ''IEEE: Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society Newsletter'' 4, 1 (March 1975) pp. 1–3. * 1989, "The fractal architecture of the systems engineering method", in: ''Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part C: Applications and Reviews'', IEEE Transactions on Volume 28, Issue 4, Nov 1998 Page(s):565 - 572.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Arthur David 1925 births 2006 deaths People from Fredericksburg, Virginia American systems scientists Systems engineers Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty Fellow Members of the IEEE Scientists from Virginia