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FREDERICK JOHNSON HOOVEN
1905-1985
BY MYRON TRIBUS
FREDERICK JOHNSON HOOVEN ctied suddenly on February 5,
1985. At the time of his death, he was professor of engineer-
ing at Dartmouth College's Thayer School of Engineering.
Fret] was born in Dayton, Ohio, on March 5, 1905, and
grew up in Dayton near the home of the Wright Brothers,
whom he came to know and admire. Nearly a half century
later, he user! data they had obtained in their wind tunnel to
design the paper airplane that won the "professional" clura-
tion-aloft category (in a field of 10,000 entrants) in the Scien-
tific American Great International Paper Airplane Contest.
Fred Hooven lover! to invent things. He held thirty-eight
U.S. patents and devised numerous other inventions he
never bothered to patent. He invented the first radio com-
pass (1936), which was the initial aircraft navigation system
that permitter! distinction between forward and backward di-
rect~on.
Hooven was particularly unhappy that his new system was
remover! at the last minute from the airplane of his friend
Amelia Earhart and replacecl with the stan(lar(1 system of
that time. Many people believe it was this less sophisticated
navigation capability that caused her to overfly her destina-
tion and become lost. Of his invention, Hooven said: "It was
my own idea and it completely clominatecl the scene for that
kind of crevice for a time roughly corresponding to the life
201
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202
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
of the DC-3. It's made it routine to cross the ocean, where
before it was an adventure."
Other of his inventions inclucled a bombing intervalome-
ter (19444; an automobile ignition system; the shoran bomb-
ing computer (19481; the first heart-lung machine, which is
still in use today in open-heart surgery (19521; the Harris
intertype digital electronic phototypesetter (19551; and a
front-end strive system for automobiles (19621.
Fret! Hooven's engineering career started well before he
graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) in 1927: In 1925, at DayFan Radio, he clesigne(1 im-
provec3 radio receivers. After his graduation from MIT, he
joiner] the staff of General Motors (GM) and designed a
brake shoe system that was installed on all GM vehicles for
the next twenty-five years. After two years at GM, however,
he left the company for a position at the Dayton Rubber
Company, where from 1930 to 1931 he designed automobile
suspension systems. He next worked in the fielc! of aircraft
performance for the U.S. Army Air Corps.
During 1931 and 1932, Hooven clesignecT a blind aircraft
lancling system for the American Loth Comnanv. Also in
1932 he independently proclucect the first successful high-
fi(lelity crystal phonograph pickup. Then, as vice-president
and chief engineer for Bendix's Radio Products Division
from 1935 to 1937, he developed the first automatic steering
system for an unmannec! flight. From 1937 to 1957, Hooven
was self-employed as an indepenclent inventor, consultant,
and contractor for new product research and development.
In 1957 Fred Hooven went to work for the Ford Motor
Company. (A GM executive described him as a "Ford trade
secret.") Yet, although he invented the front-end drive sys-
tem used by GM on the Oldsmobile Toronado and Cadillac
Elctoraclo, he could not persuade Ford to use this invention.
Nevertheless, at Ford he supervised the design and develop-
ment of the Falcon, Thun(lerbirct, FairIane, and Galaxie au-
tomobiles.
--I ----I -
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FREDERIC K JOHNSON HOOVEN
Recalling those years at Ford, Lee lacocca writes:
203
The thing I remember most about Fred is that he said future cars
would not be built the way cars were built then. Front-wheel-drive was
the way of the future and rear-wheel-drive was antiquated. He would
say, "It's silly to design cars the way we do. Why not put a power pack
up front just like a horse? A horse will pull anything. Behind it you
could put a fire truck, a station wagon, two people, four people, six
people limousines." And of course it turned out that way, the way Fred
said it would. We do have front-wheel-drive minivans today that were
a glint in his eye then because he said that is the way to do efficient
packaging.
Hooven left Ford in 1967 to once again become a consul-
tant and also adjunct professor of engineering at the Thayer
School of Engineering. He became a part-time professor in
1975 ant! remainec! in that capacity until his death.
Fret] Hooven enjoyed engineering. In fact, he enjoyed
everything he clid. Hooven was interested! in both mocle} rail-
roads and photography. He rebuilt a lens for a 35mm camera
to provide extreme field (lepth and used it to produce a pho-
tograph of a mocle} locomotive in front of the train station at
White River function that was so skillfully done that it looked
like an actual locomotive. (The photograph was even used on
the cover of Mocle! Railroading magazine.)
Hooven had fun with engineering; he built paper and
balsa wood airplanes for his children and for the chitcl he
kept alive within himself. Some of these planes were pro-
pellecl with carbon dioxide cartridges and were perhaps the
first jet-propelled mocie! airplanes. He also built a binary
counter as a toy to amuse his grandchildren.
He likecl to study whatever was new. He conversed intelli-
gently with others about special relativity and quantum me-
chanics. While in his seventies, Fred Hooven continued his
innovative work in the areas of prosthetic orthopedic bone
replacements, music synthesizers, lightweight autos, and
computerized medical diagnoses.
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
Fred was truly a classical engineer. He viewed the worId's
problems in terms of their potential solutions. His impact on
students and associates was extraordinary. Frect could stretch
the reach of others: He could make them broaden their ho-
rizons in terms of the problems they tackled and the ways in
which they approaches] them. Fret! Hooven was truly an in-
spiring teacher, colleague, and friencl.
He gave of himself to others. A partial list of his public
service activities includes the following: volunteer research
associate in biochemistry and psychophysiology, FELS Insti-
tute for the Stucly of Human Development; member, Board
of Education, Oakwood, Ohio; trustee, Miami Valley Hospi-
tal, Dayton, Ohio; trustee, Charles F. Kettering Foundation;
founding member, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan;
member, visiting committee, MIT; member, Commerce
Technical Advisory Board, Pane! on Electric Automobile and
Air Pollution; and reviewer for the UFO Sighting Commit-
tee.
Fred Hooven wrote numerous articles that were designee!
to demonstrate the historic significance of various inven-
tions. He reviewed in Petal! the data from the Wright Broth-
ers' wind tunnel, proving by computer simulation that their
original design was unstable. He commented: "A bicycle is
also unstable. They were bicycle makers so they conic! fly it."
Those of us who were fortunate enough to know him will
remember him as a wise man one of those fully cleveloped
human beings whom we are sometimes privileged to encoun-
ter during a lifetime. Fret! Hooven was warm, sympathetic,
and kindly. He would often take the other side of an argu-
ment just to make someone think a little harcler. He would
confront other people and their ideas in such a way as to
make them go home and rethink their position yet never
in such a way as to make them love him less.
Fred Hooven was devoted to his wife Martha, with whom
he had three sons and a daughter. ~ miss him deeply.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
johnson hooven
