Thaddeus W. Mermel

Biography

Thaddeus W. Mermel received a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Chicago, USA, and moved to Washington, D.C., to work for the Interstate Commerce Commission. Later, he transferred to the Bureau of Reclamation engineering center in Denver where he was engineer-designer of the Hoover Dam, Grand Coulee Dam, Shasta Dam, Hungry Horse Dam among other projects.

During World War II, he joined the Bureau of Reclamation as engineer assistant to the commissioner. After the war, Mr. Mermel studied German high-voltage underground transmission cable development used in several dams and hydro-electric plants on the Volga River and in Siberia. Mr. Mermel visited hydroelectric plants in Russia with U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Stuart Udall. This visit was instrumental in building the word's largest hydroelectric turbine at the Third Power Plant at Grand Coulee Dam in Washington, USA.

Mr. Mermel retired in 1973 as Assistant to the Commissioner For Scientific Affairs. He was a life member of the IEEE.

Mermel died on October 7th, 2000.