PERSONALS

1912

John D. Merrifield writes from Rocky Ford, Colorado, that his business is doing well and that he himself is "going strong." He's a partner in J. D. Merrifield & Son, manufacturers of automatic weighing machines.

1925

Captain Clarence A. Burmister retired in April from his position as chief of the radiosonic laboratory of the Coast and Geodetic Survey in Washington, D.C. This rounds out 30 years of service, with time out for Army combat duty in World War I – which won him the Silver Star Medal. He retires with the rank of rear admiral.

Since October, 1946, when Captain Burmister became chief of the laboratory, he was concerned with the development of electronics, particularly aids to navigation and the execution of precise surveys. Because of his inventions and scientific research in these fields, the position of a surveying ship is now determined with a high degree of accuracy while carrying on hydrographic surveys – even when operating at night or under severe weather conditions.

1926

James M. Carter who has operated the Carter Laboratories in Pasadena since 1951, writes that they were incorporated in September 1955 and that he is now president of the company. Also in the company are: Nathan F. Scudder '26, who serves as secretary‑treasurer; Paul W. Webster '42, MS '43; and Frank A. Ludwig '53. Jim reports that his son, James S., got his BS in 1955 at the University of California in Berkeley and is now a lieutenant in the Army – currently in training for the U. S. Olympic Shooting Team. Another son, Robert, will graduate this June from Dartmouth. Daughter Mary is a shoe designer and foreign correspondent for Sbicca of California, and 10‑year‑old Kathy is in school in Pasadena.

Sterling B. Hendricks, PhD, visited Caltech in April as a Sigma Xi Lecturer, speaking on the "Control of Growth by Light." As head chemist of the Soil and Water Conservation Research Branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, Maryland, his current work concerns the photoperiodic phenomena of plant growth. He has been affiliated with the Department of Agriculture since 1928.

1927

Frederick T. Schell was recently appointed division manager for the Southern California Edison Company in Fullerton. He was formerly district manager.

1929

Kenneth E. Kin grace was elected in April to the board of directors of the Union Oil Company. Now vice‑president, he's worked for the company since 1929 and has been, in turn, manager of the Los Angeles refinery and manager of manufacturing in charge of all refining activities.

George F. Wiesmonn is now assistant to the southwest division manager of the marketing department of the General Petroleum Corporation. Except for time out with the Navy in World War II, George has been with the company since 1929.

Thomas H. Evans, MS '30, dean of engineering at Colorado A & M College, writes that "the school of engineering on this campus has finally come into its own. We expect to start construction this summer on a complete new engineering center which will house all of our four departments. We hope to move in by the fall of 1957." Tom also writes that he is now a grandfather: his oldest daughter, married to a CE graduate of A & M, had a daughter on Valentine's Day this year.

1930

Rollin Eckis, MS, has been named executive vice‑president of the Richfield Oil Corporation in Los Angeles. Since 1954 he has been manager of exploration and vice-president of the company. He first began working for Richfield in 1937 as a district geologist, eventually assuming direction of geological work on many new oil reserves for the company in the United States as well as in foreign areas such as Canada, Alaska, Peru, South Arabia and Egypt.

Galen B. Schubouer, MS, was recently awarded the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Exceptional Service for his outstanding contributions to basic aerodynamics over the past 20 years. He is chief of the fluid mechanics section of the mechanics division of the National Bureau of Standards where he has worked since 1929.

1931

Carl F. J. Overhage, MS '34, PhD '37, is now head of the aircraft control and warning division of the Lincoln Laboratories in Lexington, Massachusetts. He was formerly assistant director of the color technical division of the Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, New York.

1933

Wendal A. Morgan, planning engineer for the Washington Water Power Company in Spokane, writes that "there has been no lack of interesting work here. In addition to the technical work such as planning the location of about 1,000 miles of 230 kv and 345 kv transmission lines for our proposed Mountain Sheep‑Pleasant Valley project on the Snake River, there is a running battle between the public power proponents and we private enterprise enthusiasts which may well be a life or death struggle as time goes on."

Wendal's son, Donald, is a sophomore at Stanford and his daughter, Lois, will enter either Berkeley or Stanford next fall.

John Meskell has been elected president of the new commercial‑industrial chapter of the Building Contractors Association of California. He is immediate past president of the BCA. John is a partner in the firm of Theisen Company, which specializes in commercial construction.

1934

Colonel Paul H. Dane paid a brief visit to Caltech last month on his way to an assignment as professor of thermodynamics at the new U.S. Air Force Academy in Denver. Paul has just returned from overseas duty.

1936

Robert H. Marsh writes that for the past two years he has been with the Hughes Aircraft Company in Tucson as assistant manager of engineering. He was formerly assistant chief engineer at the Raytheon Manufacturing Company in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Karl Unholtz, MS '39, is chief engineer at the MB Manufacturing Company which is a division of Textron American, Inc., in New Haven, Connecticut. Karl lives in Woodbridge, Conn., and has one daughter, 13.

1937

Stanford W. Briggs is now associate professor of chemical engineering at Purdue University. He was formerly with the Cutter Laboratories in Walnut Creek, California.

Owen C. Johnson is vice‑president of Water Chemists, Inc., in Los Angeles – a firm which treats water for use in cooling towers, evaporative condensers, boilers, etc. He writes that "the company is building a new office one block from Sears Olympic. We're living in San Marino (my wife and two children and I) and have just returned from a two‑week trip to Hawaii."

1938

John C. McLean is now a vice‑president of the Continental Oil Company and is in charge of coordinating and planning activities for the company in Houston. For the past 15 years, John has been at Harvard as professor of business administration. He became a part‑time consultant with Continental in 1948 and, since 1954 had been on leave of absence from Harvard to serve as assistant to the president at Continental.

1939

Charles F. B. Carstarphen, MS '40, has been made superintendent of the Kansas City factory of Procter & Gamble. He had been superintendent of the company's Baltimore branch since 1952.

1940

Robert S. Ray, MS '41, has been appointed vice‑president and manager of manufacturing at Brea Chemicals, Inc., in Brea, California. Bob is living in nearby Fullerton.

1941

John J. Rupnik, MS, is a partner in the newly‑created firm of Rupnik and Ballomi in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which will specialize in review analysis, crew supervision and exploration program management. Both John and his new partner were formerly with the firm of Manhart, Millison & Beebe in Tulsa.

1942

V. Cadambe, MS, writes from New Delhi, India, that he has taken over the post of director of research and development in the Indian Government's Ministry of Defense. He had been assistant director and head of the division of applied mechanics of the National Physical Laboratory of India since 1948.

Robert E. Densmore Jr. is now a chemical process engineer for the Filtrol Corporation in Vernon, California.

1943

Jack L. Matoya, MS, has been named district geophysicist at the Stanolind Oil and Gas Company's office at Tyler, Texas. Jack has worked for Stanolind since 1941 in the Central, Rocky Mountain and North Texas‑New Mexico divisions. The Matayas have two daughters – Janice, 7, and Judy, 2.

1945

John D. McKenney, MS '48, has a six-month‑old daughter, Kathryn Glen. The McKenneys' elder daughter is now 3. Jack is at JPL, working in the Mechanical Ground Equipment Engineering Department.

Wayne A. Roberts, MS '48, is now working as a geologist in the acquisition and exploration department of the Climax Uranium Company in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Hugh S. West, who is in the agency department of the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, was recently transferred from San Francisco to Hartford, Connecticut. The Wests now have a third child, Kathryn, born in April.

1946

Elmore C. Brolin has left Standard Oil of California in San Francisco, where he worked as analyst in organization and planning, to take a new job as chief engineer in the switchgear division of Zinsco Electrical Products in Los Angeles.

Julian David Cole, MS, PhD '49, was given a Guggenheim fellowship award lest month to continue his work in theoretical aerodynamics. Julian is assistant professor of aeronautics at Caltech and his current work has been theoretical research in transonic flow and viscous compressible flow.

1947

Commander Harold E. Rice, MS, writes that he has "just reported to the staff of the Commander Submarines, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, as Staff Gunnery Officer. The headquarters are located in New London, Conn., at the U. S. Naval Submarine Base. I am now in the process of building a home on an acre of land in Gales Ferry, one mile north of the base."

Harry P. Brueggemann has been in charge of engineering for the West Coast Division of the Pathe Laboratories since 1954. He has four children – Linda, Bruce, Mark and David – ages 3 to 11 years.

Kurt Mislow, PhD, last month received a Guggenheim fellowship which will enable him to do chemical research in Switzerland. He's now an assistant professor of chemistry at New York University. The Mislows have a son, Christopher.

1948

Glen Mitchell. Jr., who for the past four years has been working in the contracting department of the consolidated Western Steel and American Bridge Divisions of the United States Steel Corporation, is now a partner in a new firm, Steiny and Mitchel, Inc. Located in Los Angeles, the firm deals in industrial and commercial electrical contracting.

William J. Dixon, MS '49, PhD '52, has been vice‑president of Computer Engineering Associates since its formation in 1952. He writes that he's still single, and that he got his pilot's license this year. Bill also reports that other Caltech alumni working with the firm include Michael A. Basin '51, MS '52; Bart N. Locanthi '47; Howell Tyson '20; Vincenzo Cestari, BS, MS ’55; and James Ross Jr. '52, MS '53.

1949

Jesse C. Denton, MS '49, a senior thermodynamics engineer at Convair in San Diego, was selected in April to attend a 10‑month course in nuclear energy at the Argonne National Laboratory of Chicago.

Robert P. Crogo, MS, has been made general manager of the Military Products Center (a self‑governing branch of IBM) in Kingston, New York. Bob has been with IBM since 1949.

1950

Reverend Dole F. Stewart writes: "I have been a Baptist minister ever since receiving my degree. I am now pastor of a new Baptist church in a new housing area in Pueblo, Colorado. Starting from scratch, our 16 months here have resulted in a new building with 3800 square feet, an average attendance in Sunday School of over 100 and a membership of 66."

Frederick W. Drury, Jr., is vice‑president and chief engineer of the Airox Company in Los Angeles, manufacturers of lightweight aggregate and pozzolan for concrete. Fred is also member of the American Concrete Institute Advisory Committee on admixtures for concrete. The Drurys have three sons – Stephen, 5, Frederick, 4, and Douglas, 2 1/2.

Robert H. Korkega, MS, PhD '54, has been on the staff of the engineering center of the University of Southern California as a research associate for the past two years. "This summer," he writes, "I'll be on leave from USC to work in Paris as consultant to AGARD (Advisory Group for Aeronautical Research & Development) for NATO. In this capacity I will be engaged in hypersonic work and will present one or two lectures at the Sorbonne, ONERA, etc."

William H. McLellan who was formerly project engineer with William Miller Instruments, Inc. in Pasadena, is now with the transducer division at Consolidated Electrodynamics Corporation, also in Pasadena. He's been with the company since January. Bill has two daughters – Jill, 3',4, and Judy, 9 months, who are going to England for the summer with their mother.

1951

Erdem I. Ergin, MS, and Leita Harmon were married on May 11 in Istanbul, Turkey. Leita was manager of Caltech's Athenaeum until September 1954, when she left the U. S. to work at the Istanbul Hilton.

Herbert M. Hull, PhD, writes that he is still a plant physiologist with the Agriculture Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Tucson. The Hulls have a daughter, Laurinda Lee, born on Valentine's Day, 1955.

Dean M. Blanchard writes that his travels in the past several years have done a lot to abate his wanderlust. After graduating from Caltech he went to work in the New York engineering office of the California Texas Oil Company, and a few months later he was sent to the Far East where he spent three years – first on the construction of crude oil shipping facilities for the Minas field in Central Sumatra and Indonesia, then to southern Luzon, to work on the first oil refinery to be constructed in the Phillippines. In 1954 he was drafted into the Army (he expects his discharge in August) and the last 18 months have been spent on a mapping project with the Interamerican Geodetic Survey in the Republic of Panama.

Barrie H. Bieler, MS '52, reports that he received his PhD from the Mineralogy Department of Pennsylvania State University in 1955 and is now working for the U. S. Geological Survey in Denver. While at Penn State, he married Althea Rector (BS '54 from Penn) and now they have a son, Thomas, who was born on April 18.

George H. Trilling, PhD '55, research fellow at Caltech, has received a Fulbright grant to do research in physics at the Polytechnic School in Paris.

1952

Gilbert E. Kitching gets his MD degree from USC Medical School this month and will interne at the Tripler Army Hospital in Hawaii for a year as an Air Force lieutenant. He'll have two more years of Air Force service after this – in parts unknown. Gil is married and has one son, Alfred.

Bruno Herscovici is now Bruno Harris; he changed his name in 1953. He was married to Janet Bloch last March in Brooklyn. He is due to receive his PhD in mathematics from Yale, this month, and he will spend the next year there on a National Science Foundation Fellowship.

Harry F. Williams MS, who received his PhD at Caltech this month, has received a Fulbright grant to study aerodynamics at the University of Manchester, England, for the 1956‑7 academic year.

1953

Walter J. Eager, who has been an ensign in the Navy since December, 1954, writes from Raleigh North Carolina, that he is "presently assigned to duty with the Nuclear Power Branch of the engineering research and development lab at Fort Belvoin, Va., as the Navy representative of the joint reactor project. I am attending North Carolina State College under the AEC reactor physics and engineering course program, along with seven American industrial people and 25 foreign scientists and engineers. Upon completion of this course and one at Oak Ridge or ALCO in Schenectady, I will instruct crews in reactor fundamentals and the operation and maintenance of the Army package power reactor at Fort Belvoir which is to start in 1957.

"My previous very enjoyable assignment was at Treasure Island where I was shops engineer and assistant officer in charge of the Public Works Transportation Center. Skiing in the Sierras and sailing the Admiral's 26‑foot knockabout sailboat in San Francisco Bay was not the hardest way to fight a war.

"I strongly recommend the U. S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps to those classmates who have service looming over their heads."

Gordon P. Eaton, MS, is teaching and doing research at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. Under a National Science Foundation grant, Gordon's research involves structural and petrologic problems in central Connecticut; he's teaching general geology and structural geology.

Frederick C. Harshbarger, MS, has received a Fulbright grant which will enable him to study molecular physics at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in Oslo during the next academic year. He has completed assignments for his PhD in mechanical engineering at Caltech.

1954

Thomas K. Caughey, PhD, has been at Caltech since September as assistant professor of applied mechanics. "After graduation in 1954," he says, "my family and I returned to Scotland to spend a year with my mother. While in Scotland we had two additions to the family – twin daughters, Kit and Kriss. They took up most of our spare time, so we didn't have very much time for sightseeing, though my job as consulting engineer to a large mechanical engineering company took me about the country quite a bit."

1955

Captain Howard L. Strohecker, MS, is stationed at the U. S. Army base in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. His wife, Jean, is with him.

Stanley L. Crotch, who this month received his MS in chemical engineering at Caltech, has been awarded a Fulbright grant to study at the Municipal University of Amsterdam, Holland, for the 1956‑57 academic year.

Richard M. Okada, MS, is now a second lieutenant in the Army and is stationed at the Army Electronics Proving Ground at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. He's project officer in the VT Fuze Countermeasures division of the Electronic Warfare Department.

Charles St. Clair, who is a graduate student at the University of Arizona, writes that he "will be working for the United States Geological Survey this summer in connection with my MS thesis. The thesis will be a reconnaissance from Camp Verde to Rock Springs, Arizona, to determine the relationship of sedimentary rocks, erosion surfaces, lavas and structures‑in an attempt to clarify some of the Tertiary and/or recent geology of Arizona."