Robert C. Hansen
Biography
Dr. Robert C. Hansen’s unusually deep understanding of theory and unique gift of communicating complex concepts clearly combine to make him a highly influential figure in the fields of phased array antennas, and superconducting, superdirective, and electrically small antennas.
Dr. Hansen’s work with antennas spans more than fifty years. He has published more than 100 papers, numerous books, and has been an Associate Editor of Microwave Journal, Radio Science, and the Microwave Engineer’s Handbook. His three-volume text, Microwave Scanning Antennas, has been a fundamental reference on phased arrays for years. His other books include Significant Phased Array Papers, Geometric Theory of Diffraction, Moment Methods in Antennas and Scattering, and, most recently, Phased Array Antennas.
Born in 1926, in St. Louis, Missouri, Robert C. Hansen received a B.S. from the Missouri School of Mines in Rolla, and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana. He started his career in 1945, as an electronic technician in the U.S. Navy. After five years in the University of Illinois Antenna Laboratory, he joined Hughes Aircraft, where he was section head in the Microwave Laboratory working on antennas. He joined Aerospace Corporation in 1961, where he was Associate Director of Satellite Control, then Director of the Test Mission Analysis Office, and finally Operations Group Director of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory Systems Engineering Office. From 1967 to 1970, he worked for KMS Industries in Ann Arbor, before becoming a full-time consulting engineer for antennas and systems related problems in 1971.
A Life Fellow of IEEE and a Fellow of IEE, Dr. Hansen has been President of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society, Director of IEEE, and Chair of U.S. Commission B of URSI. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Physical Society, Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, Eta Kappa Nu, and Phi Kappa Phi. His numerous honors include the IEEE AES Barry Carlton Best Paper Prize, the IEEE AP Society Distinguished Achievement Award, an honorary Doctorate from the University of Missouri-Rolla, a Distinguished Alumnus award from the University of Illinois Electrical Engineering Department, and a Distinguished Alumnus Service Medal from the College of Engineering.
