Joseph Hilsenrath
Joseph Hilsenrath (1912-2004) was a pioneer of information science.
Life
Joseph Hilsenrath was born on November 11, 1912 what was then part of Austria and now in Poland. 1912. He immigrated to the United States in 1920 and served in the US Navy as Lieutenant Commander. He received a BA and MA in mathematics from State Teachers College of New Jersey and a BS in Physics from Renssaelar Polytechnic Institute.
Hilsenrath worked from 1948 to 1974 for the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, DC.
Source: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/washingtonpost/name/joseph-hilsenrath-obituary?id=5504826
National Bureau of Standards (NBS) He died on Aoril 5, 2004.
Contributions
Instructor Math and Physics, College of Paterson (NJ) 1939-40; Instructor, Public School in NY 1940-42; Instructor in Physics, Newark College 1942; Coordinator of graduate training, U.S. Naval Ord. Lab 1946-48; NBS: Physical Science Administrator 1948-55; Administrative Physicist 1955-60; Chief Equation, State Secretary 1960-68; Program Manager Data Systems Design 1968-?; Interested in thermodynamics, thermodynamic properties, theoretical and experimental equation of state, research administration, design and application of user-oriented digital computer systems.
P. 254 of the following NIST (formerly National Bureau of Standards) contains the information below. http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/sp958-lide/254-257.pdf
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.
A detailed obituary summarizing his work at NIST appeared in the Standards Alumni Association Newsletter of NIST in June, 2004, p. 15.
P. 254 of the following NIST (formerly National Bureau of Standards) contains the above information. http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/sp958-lide/254-257.pdf
- 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.
Awards
Department of Commerce:
- Service Award, 1962
- Gold Medal, 1971
Offices
- ASIS Pres. 1956
Further reading
- "Joseph Hilsenrath Obituary." The Washington Post [1]
- Oral history interview of Joseph Hilsenrath, October 29, 1982. NBS-NIST Oral Histories.
PAPERS
LOCATION #1 NIST Digital Archives (online)
- PAPERS DATES: 1982
- INCLUDES: Oral history interview (audio and transcript)
- SOURCE: https://nistdigitalarchives.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16009coll2/id/318