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OCR for page 213
FREDERICK C. LINDVALL
1903-1989
BY RUBEN F
. METTLER
FRED LINDVALL was a man of many dimensions, including
his long and dedicated association with Caltech, his na-
tional prominence in engineering education and the engi-
neering profession, his wide range of engineering research
interest, his many cultural and civic interests, and his love
for family and friends. In this context, it is my privilege to
write of Fred as one of his former students, touching on
his role as a teacher, an academic advisor, and a personal
friend.
Fred, professor of engineering, emeritus, at the Califor-
nia Institute of Technology, died January 17, 1989, in Pasadena.
He was born on May 29, 1903, in Moline, Illinois, and
earned his B.S. from the University of Illinois in 1925 and
his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Caltech in 1928.
He worked for the General Electric Company from 1928 to
1930 and joined the Caltech faculty in 1930 as instructor in
electrical engineering. Subsequently he became assistant
professor of electrical engineering, associate professor, and
then professor of electrical and mechanical engineering,
and from 1945 to 1969 chairman of Caltech's Division of
Engineering and Applied Science.
After retiring as professor of engineering, emeritus, in
1970, Fred became vice-president for engineering at the
Illinois-based Deere & Company.
213
OCR for page 214
214
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
Fred was elected a member of the National Academy of
Engineering in 1967. He was also a member of the National
Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the Institute of Electrical
and Electronic Engineers and of the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers, national president of the American
Society for Engineering Education and of Sigma Xi, a member
of the Engineers' Council for Professional Development
and Tau Beta Pi, a director of the Stanford Research Insti-
tute, and a consultant for the President's Office of Science
and Technology. During World War II, he supervised gov-
ernment ordnance research projects at Caltech and received
the Naval Ordnance Development aware] and the Presidential
Citation for Merit.
Fred served as a member of the board of directors of
numerous firms and institutions, a member of the Jet Pro-
puision Laboratory's Advisory Board, and a trustee of Harvey
Mudd College. From 1936 to 1953 he was also a lieutenant
in the U.S. Naval Reserve.
My first contact with Fred was in the late 1940s when he
was in the early years of his long service as chairman of the
Division of Engineering and Applied Science. It was an
exciting time for Caltech, and for engineering in general,
and Fred was in the midctle of the action.
He encouraged graduate students to spread their wings—
academically and professionally. He emphasized applied
science and applied mathematics as the underpinning of
modern engineering and encouraged his students to take
as many courses as possible in other departments and divi-
sions at Caltech. For many of his students, their first acquain-
tance with concepts like "interdisciplinary research," "system
engineering," and "management of technology" came from
Fred. He made it seem very natural for me as an electrical
engineer to do a thesis in aeronautics and have an Examination
Committee representing a wide range of disciplines, especially
in physics and mathematics.
Although Fred emphasized quantitative analysis, he made
it clear that in practice, engineering (and especially engineering
design) is a clecision-making process that can lead by many
OCR for page 215
FREDERICK C. LINDVALL
215
different paths to an effective solution, but with no exactly
right or wrong answers. He made clear the differences
between analysis and synthesis.
To this day, ~ do not need to consult a Caltech catalog to.
remember the advanced engineering course that Fred per-
sonally pioneered and taught, and in which he demonstrated
these points. It was EE 226, and more than any other
course ~ took at Caltech, it made a lasting impression on
me.
Fred assigned general problems of a practical nature that
students had never encountered before, often with a due
ciate one or two months later so there was plenty of time to
think about the problems and how to approach them. The
student was left on his own and was to determine (anct
later defend) his underlying assumptions, his approximations,
his methods, and the validity of his solution. The fact that
the course had an EE label had no constraining influence
on Frect's problem selection. ~ can recall problems that
introduced us to long narrow bridges (like the famous Tacoma
Narrows bridge), a dam in a canyon with a particular geol-
ogy, high-voltage transmission lines, rocket motors, and analog
computers. The key task was to take the problems all the
way to final design solutions, supported by quantitative analysis.
What made this so exciting was that as graduate students
we had just been introduced in our candidacy courses to
the "magic" of Laplace transforms, the incredible scope
and beauty of Maxwell's equations, the power of vector
analysis, and the mysteries and uncertainties of fluid mechanics.
Fred's course helped us begin to understand how practical
engineering solutions could be developed from such abstract
theories and analytical techniques if we could add enough
common sense and engineering judgment.
After several years that had been like drinking out of an
intellectual fire hose, we were able to sip and taste some of
the water.
As one of Frecl's students, ~ wish to salute and honor
Am as a giant of the engineering profession, one of Caltech's
finest, and a trusted adviser and friend.
OCR for page 216
Representative terms from entire chapter:
quantitative analysis
