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Memorial Tributes Volume 23 (2021) / Chapter Skim
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HERBERT H. WOODSON
Pages 346-351

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From page 347...
... He spent 2 years at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory before returning to MIT in 1954 to get his PhD in electrical engineering, and joined the department faculty in 1956. At MIT he worked on magnetohydrodynamics and electromagnetic power generation, including novel approaches such as "The Application of Superconductors in the Field Windings of Large Synchronous Machines."1 He also wrote the threevolume book Electromechanical Dynamics with his graduate student James Melcher (Wiley, 1968)
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From page 348...
... He also was CEM's primary link with the UT Austin administration through Provost Gerry Fonken, and he and Grady were the ones who secured approval for the CEM/CES building, working with Fonken and Dean Earnest Gloyna. In 1982 Herb established CFE, which formed a triad with the two existing UT Austin fusion centers: the Institute for
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From page 349...
... The low impedance of the magnetic field coils and generator output were a perfect combination, providing sim­plicity and low cost. Funding was obtained from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Advanced Technology Program and other sources, and several prototype devices were built and tested.
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From page 350...
... With the support of the Whitaker grant and the UT System, the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the undergraduate biomedical engineering program were established in 2001, and a new biomedical engineering building was built in 2008. Beyond his technical and leadership accomplishments, Herb authored multiple textbooks and filed numerous patents.
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From page 351...
... , "for contributions to power generation technology, particularly in superconducting generators and magnetohydrodynamic generators," and Lamme Medal (1998) , "for leadership in research and technology in the field of pulsed power and energy conversion systems." He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1975 and in 1990 received the Engineer of the Year Award from the National Society of Professional Engineers.
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Key Terms

  • biomedical engineering
  • cockrell school
  • graduate student
  • fusion engineering
  • electrical engineering

  • energy research
  • power generation
  • pulsed power
  • tokamak reactor
  • generator output

  • weldon joined
  • radio operator
  • herb established
  • gerry fonken
  • primary link

  • student james
  • endowed scholarships
  • special committee
  • rylander iii
  • emeritus ben

  • honorably discharged
  • top students
  • relative simplicity
  • leadership accomplishments
  • authors prepared

  • team traveled
  • earnest gloyna
  • ces director
  • prototype devices
  • whitaker grant


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