Louis Alan Hazeltine, Class of 1906, Hon. Sc.D. ’33 Helped Connect the World Via Radio Technology

Louis Alan Hazeltine Class of 1906, Hon. Sc.D. ’33 (1886-1964), the American electrical engineer and physicist who invented the neutrodyne circuit, changed the course of commercial communications.

After graduating from Stevens in 1906, Hazeltine worked for a year in the laboratory of General Electric Company before returning to Stevens to teach. He rose to full professor status and became head of the department of electrical engineering in 1917, serving as a consultant to the U.S. Navy during World War I.

Hazeltine's work in radio telegraphy and telephony led him to invent neutrodyne circuits, which neutralized the noise that made radio reception difficult. In 1924 he formed the Hazeltine Corporation and sold his patent to the company, marketing a successful new type of radio receiver. By 1927, the innovative circuit and receiver were making commercial radio possible, with an estimated 10 million radios using the device.

Hazeltine later served as an advisor to the U.S. government on regulations for radio broadcast, returning to Stevens in 1933 as a professor of physical mathematics and later serving his country again during World War II as a member of the National Defense Research Committee.