Joseph Hilsenrath

Joseph Hilsenrath (1912-2004) was a pioneer of information science.

Joseph Hilsenrath

Life

Joseph Hilsenrath was born on November 11, 1912 in what was then part of Austria, later Poland, then later Russia. He immigrated to the United States in 1920 and received a BA and MA in mathematics from State Teachers College of New Jersey.

Hilsenrath was a teacher: Instructor Math and Physics, College of Paterson (NJ), 1939-40; Instructor, Public School in New York, 1940-42; Instructor in Physics, Newark College 1942; and Coordinator of graduate training, U.S. Naval Ordnance Laboratory. 1946-48. He served in the US Navy as Lieutenant Commander and earned a BS in Physics from Renssaelar Polytechnic Institute.

In 1948 Hilsenrath worked joined 1974 for the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in Washington, DC, where he was Physical Science Administrator, 1948-55; Administrative Physicist, 1955-60; Chief Equation, State Secretary, 1960-68; and from 1968 Program Manager, Data Systems Design. He retired in 1974 and died on April 5, 2004.

Contributions

Hilsenrath was interested in thermodynamics, thermodynamic properties, theoretical and experimental equation of state, research administration, design and application of user-oriented digital computer systems. His work led to the creation of the database management program OMNIDATA, described in the his book with Bettijoyce Breen, OMNIDATA, An Interactive System for Data Retrieval, Statistical and Graphical Analysis and Data-Base Management: A User’s Manual. This was the first major publication of the National Bureau of Standards in the area of computerized scientific data management.

Joseph Hilsenrath began his career at NBS in 1948, first as a scientist/mathematician specializing in employee training, then as an experimental researcher in high pressure physics, after which he became Chief of the Equation of State Section of the Heat Division. As the first computers became available at NBS, he became interested in the preparation of tables of thermodynamic data and in putting computer know-how in the hands of Everyman. His OMNITAB statistical packages received wide use in NBS and other Government agencies. He moved to the Office of Standard Reference Data in 1967, where he led the development of computerized typesetting methods that saw use throughout the Government. He retired in 1974, but for many years remained active in NBS reference data activities.

Publications

• OMNIDATA: an interactive system for data retrieval, statistical and graphical analysis and data-base management. A user's manual [With B. B. Molino]. Washington, DC: National Bureau of Standards, National Measurement Laboratory, 1978, 294p (1978).
• Beyond data retrieval: an outline of the unique data features of the NBS OMNIDATA System. Molino, Bettijoyce Breen; Hilsenrath, Joseph. Washington, D.C., National Bureau of Standards, 1979, 7p.

Offices

• American Documentation Institute. President, 1956.

Awards

• Department of Commerce. Silver medal, and Gold Medal, 1971

Further reading

• "Joseph Hilsenrath Obituary." The Washington Post [1]
• A detailed obituary summarizing his work at NIST appeared in the Standards Alumni Association Newsletter of NIST in June, 2004, p. 15.
• Oral history interview of Joseph Hilsenrath, October 29, 1982. NBS-NIST Oral Histories. [2]
• Rumble, John R., Jr. OMNIDATA and the Computerization of Scientific Data. In: A century of excellence in measurements, standards, and technology. Ed. by David R. Lide. [editor]. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2002. Originally published as National Institute of Standards and Technology, Special Publication, 958--U.S. [3]