Thomas J Higgins
Thomas J. Higgins | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1911 Virginia, United States |
| Died | 1998 (aged 86–87) |
| Residence | Madison, WI, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | History and bibliography of electrical engineering and electrophysics |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Electrical engineering |
| Institutions | University of Wisconsin–Madison |
Thomas James Higgins (1911–1998) was an American electrical engineer, educator, and bibliographer who served as Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is best known for his extensive work documenting the history of electrical engineering and electrophysics, compiling large classified and biographical bibliographies of the field.
Biography
Higgins was born in 1911 and raised in Virginia. He pursued studies in electrical engineering and held teaching positions at a number of universities before moving to Madison, Wisconsin, where he joined the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin. Over the course of a long career he served in the Department of Electrical Engineering, taking part in the department's expansion and improvement over the years. He died in 1998. An oral history interview recorded that year, along with his personal papers spanning 1940 to 1998, is held in the University of Wisconsin–Madison Archives.
Work
Higgins published more than 135 papers in scientific and technical journals over the course of his career. His technical writing addressed topics in electric network theory, including work such as "General Theory of Laplace Transform Solutions of Multiple-Loop Electric Networks."
He is particularly noted as a historian and bibliographer of his discipline. Over roughly two decades he assembled papers, books, monographs, and other written sources dealing with the historical development of electrical engineering and electrophysics. He compiled a bibliography of some 1,200 titles, "A Classified Bibliography of Publications on the History and Development of Electrical Engineering and Electrophysics," which appeared in The Bulletin of Bibliography between 1950 and 1952. He also produced "A Biographical Bibliography of Electrical Engineers and Electrophysicists," and prepared bibliographies of biographies of physicists, astronomers, metallurgists, and engineers.
Higgins, Prof. Thomas J., Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin, 1415 Johnson Drive, Madison, WI 53706.