| Notes |
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)
July 22, 2000
John Parker Hanson never lived more than four years in a single place when he was growing up. But he had little trouble putting down deep roots in White Oak once he signed on as a Westinghouse Electric Corp. engineer and began his own family there.
"He was happy to have his kids born and brought up in the same house," Mr. Hanson's wife, Julia, said.
Mr. Hanson, whose engineering career encompassed work on exotic technologies such as an atomic-powered artificial heart, died Monday at Forbes Hospice following a massive stroke. He was 66.
While he may not have wanted a peripatetic upbringing for his children, the moves he made as a youngster left him with a rich trove of stories, a sense of adventure and a love of the sea, a legacy of time spent in Puerto Rico, among other places. The moves throughout childhood were a function of his parents' divorce and his father's career, originally as an engineer and later as an explorer, writer and lecturer. His longest stay anywhere in childhood was in Delaware, where he went to high school and joined the Sea Scouts, a boys organization for sailing hobbyists. Upon graduation, Mr. Hanson went to Haverford College, a Pennsylvania school rooted in Quaker teachings that influenced him throughout his life. He interrupted his education there to join the Coast Guard for a few years after realizing "he was flunking out of school," said his brother, David. Mr. Hanson was a brilliant student, but also had the heart of a party animal. The high spirit prevailed through his adulthood, his brother said.
Mr. Hanson, who was with Westinghouse for 30 years, earned his master's in mechanical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 1966 and his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in 1970. As an analytical engineer at Westinghouse, he reflected a generation of science and engineering. In addition to the artificial heart, he worked on development of atomic rocket engines, deep space radiators, solar cells, and other alternative energy projects. After retiring from Westinghouse in 1994, Mr. Hanson became an adjunct professor of physics at Duquesne University.
In addition to his wife, Julia, of White Oak, and his brother, David, of Edgewood, he is survived by a daughter, Lida, of Berwyn, Pa., and a son, Michael, of Philadelphia.
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1934 - 2000 (65 years)
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