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WILLIAM EARL SHOUPP
1 908- 1 981
BY DONALD C. BURNHAM
WLLIAM E SHOUPP a pioneer in the development of nuclear
power for naval propulsion and electrical generation and the retired
Vice-President for Research of the Westinghouse Electric Corpora-
tion, died on November 21, 1981. At the time, he was in his office at
the Westinghouse Research Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
where he had continued to serve as a consultant after his retirement.
Dr. Shoupp was a leader in the technical development of nuclear
power. Early in his career he directed work on the world's first
industrial atom smasher. He was responsible for the development of
the nuclear power plant for the first nuclear-powered submarine-
the USS Nautilus for which he won Westinghouse Corporation's
highest achievement award, The Order of Merit, in 1953. He was in
charge of research and development for the Shippingport Atomic
Power Plant, which was the first commercial nuclear power plant in
the United States. He provided leadership and inspiration to the
entire Westinghouse Electric Research Laboratories which he man-
aged, as Vice-President for Research, from 1962 until his retirement
in 1973. He served on numerous government advisory committees
and contributed greatly to the work of many professional societies
and to the National Academy of Engineering. He was noted for his
optimism, his sense of humor, and his ability to inspire the young
people in engineering and science to give more of themselves to do
better.
Born October 12, 1908, in Troy, Ohio, he received a Bachelor of
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264
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
Science degree from Miami University of Ohio in 1931 and master's
and doctor's degrees in science from the University of Illinois in
1933 and 1938, respectively. He received honorary Doctor of Sci-
ence degrees from Miami University and the Indiana Institute of
Technology.
Dr. Shoupp had a long and distinguished career with the West-
inghouse Electric Corporation. From 1938 until 1943 he was a
Research Fellow at the Westinghouse Research Laboratories, where
he was Section Head of Electronics and Nuclear Physics. He was the
inventor of many nuclear particle detector systems and has been
called the father of the industrial nucleonics field because of his
developments in nuclear gauging techniques. In 1943 he was made
Manager of the Electronics and Nuclear Physics Department. From
1948 to 1954 he served as Director of Research, Director of Develop-
ment, and Assistant Manager of Development for the Bettis Atomic
Power Laboratory where he was in charge of research and develop-
ment for atomic-powered submarines and the Shippingport Atomic
Power Plant. In 1954 he was made Technical Director of the Atomic
Power Division of Westinghouse. He directed the research and
development and engineering of various commercial atomic power
plants, including the Yankee Atomic Electric Plant in Rowe, Massa-
chusetts. In 1961 Dr. Shoupp was appointed Technical Director of
the Westinghouse Electric Corporation Astronuclear Laboratory
where he was in charge of research and development of space pro-
pulsion and life support and associated activities.
In 1962 he was appointed Vice-President for Research in charge
of the Research Laboratories of Westinghouse. He was responsible
for basic, applied, and developmental research conducted at the
Research Laboratories in support of the company's sixty-four man-
ufacturing plants and for various federal agencies. He directed the
scientific and engineering activities of more than 700 employees,
many of whom are world-renowned authorities in their fields. As
Director of one of the pioneering industrial research laboratories of
the world, Dr. Shoupp was charged with guiding investigations in
disciplines as varied as molecular electronics, magnetohydrodynam-
ics, cryogenics, life sciences, laser research, mechanics, and scores of
other scientific and technological areas. In 1973, at the age of sixty-
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WILLIAM EARL SHOUPP
265
five, Dr. Shoupp retired from Westinghouse, but he continued to
work as a consultant for Westinghouse, the Office of Coal Research,
the Electric Power Research Institute, and a number of other organ-
Batons Interested In energy.
Dr. Shoupp was elected to the National Academy of Engineering
in 1967 and was active in Academy affairs for the rest of his life. He
was Vice-President of the Academy from 1973 to 1978 and was also
Acting President of the Academy from December 1974 until April
1975. He was Chairman of the National Research Council's Marine
Board from 1970 to 1974.
He belonged to numerous professional and honor societies; he
was a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the
American Nuclear Society, the American Physical Society, and the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. In 1964 he served
as President of the American Nuclear Society and was awarded the
Industrial Research Institute Medal in 1973. He was awarded nine
patents for inventions ranging from a thickness gauge for rolling
mills to a method of measuring neutron intensity. Dr. Shoupp pub-
lished many scientific papers and articles, most of which addressed
the subject of nuclear power. Illustrative of his broad interests are
those entitled "Organizing Engineers to Meet the Challenge of New
Technology" and "Bringing R&D to the Market Place."
Dr. Shoupp was an engineer and scientist who took great pleasure
in the results of his work. He was justifiably proud when the USS
Nautilus cruised successfully under the North Pole. He was interested
in people as well as things, and he even set up a training course for
the Nautilus crew.
Dr. Shoupp did not limit his interests to engineering and technical
matters; he was an excellent tennis player and also had a hobby of
fixing watches. When anybody had a watch to fix, Bill was the man
to do it. Oftentimes, even as a meeting in his office was in progress,
he would sit there studying watch parts through a magnifying glass.
He had all the necessary tools in his desk to make the repairs.
Dr. Shoupp had many friends who enjoyed his brilliant engineer-
ing and scientific knowledge, his sense of humor, and his interest in
people.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
power plant
