Inductee Profile
Harold Alden Wheeler
A native of Minnesota, Harold Alden Wheeler was born in St. Paul on May 10, 1903. His family lived in Mitchell, South Dakota for some years, then in Washington, D.C. He graduated in 1925 from George Washington University with the Bachelor of Science degree in Physics, and followed this with further studies at Johns Hopkins University until 1928.
During his early college years, Wheeler also engaged in part-time work at the Radio Laboratory of the National Bureau of Standards. Following this, he became associated with Professor Hazeltine at Stevens Institute of Technology in the development of the Neutrodyne radio receiver, which came into general use in the mid-1920's. In 1924, he was one of the original employees of the Hazeltine Corporation.
In 1925, Wheeler made the first radio with diode automatic volume control and linear detector. This feature was rapidly adopted for general use. From 1930 to 1939, he was in charge of the Hazeltine laboratory in Bayside, Long Island, engaged in the development of improvements in broadcast radio receivers for various manufacturers. From 1939, when the laboratory moved to Little Neck, Long Island, Wheeler was vice-president and chief consulting engineer. He was then concentrating on the problems of frequency modulation and television receivers. This work was recognized in 1940 by the Morris Liebmann Prize of the Institute of Radio Engineers.
During World War II, his principal responsibility was the design and development of antennas and transmission line circuits for IFF equipment for the Navy; for this work he received the Navy's Certificate of Commendation. After the war in 1946, he founded Wheeler Laboratories, Inc. This group was active in the development of microwave circuits and antennas, particularly for tracking and guidance radar in missile systems. In 1959, Wheeler's company became a subsidiary of Hazeltine Corporation, now a part of BAE Systems in Greenlawn. He was then elected a director and vice-president of the parent company, which became a major manufacturer of electronics equipment for military applications. Wheeler also served the Government in various capacities as an expert consultant, including membership on the Defense Science Board.
In his forty years of activity in the radio engineering profession, Wheeler presented numerous scientific papers and published many articles in scientific periodicals, especially the Proceedings and Transactions of the IEEE. He was awarded 180 U. S. patents and many foreign patents. In recognition of his inventions, he received one of the Modern Pioneer Awards from the National Association of Manufacturers in 1940. Dr. Wheeler was a member of the Institute of Radio Engineers beginning 1927 and a Fellow from 1935, and a member of its Board of Directors in 1934 and again from 1940 to 1945. He was also a Fellow in the American Institute of Electrical Engineers starting in 1946 and was the second chairman of the IEEE Long Island Section, an Associate Member of the IEEE, and a Fellow of the Radio Club of America. Wheeler passed away on 25 April 1996 in Ventura, California.