Professor Henry M. ("Hank") Paynter was born in Evanston,
IL, in 1923 and received his S.B. (1944), S.M. (1949), and Sc.D (1951)
degrees, all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1944-1946
he worked for Puget Power in Seattle, returning to M.I.T. for graduate
study and teaching. He taught hydraulics, hydrology, and hydropower subjects
in the Civil Engineering Department from 1946 to 1954. His research, which
addressed fluid dynamics and control and power system governing, led to
the formation with G.A. Philbrick of the Pi-Square Engineering Company.
This company was devoted to electronic analog computing, and his work Dr.
Paynter collaborated closely with the Woodward Governor Company on hydro
plant control.
In 1954, Dr. Paynter transferred to the Department of Mechanical Engineering
at M.I.T. where he worked on a half-time basis until 1959, and then full
time until his retirement in 1985. He is currently Professor of Mechanical
Engineering Emeritus and Senior Lecturer at M.I.T.
Sometime Sigma Xi National Lecturer and an ASME Distinguished Lecturer,
he has also received the Alfred Noble Prize of the Joint Engineering Societies
(1953), the ASME Oldenburger Medal (1979), and the ACC Education Award
(1984). He is a Fellow of ASME, a Life Member of ASCE, and a Senior Member
of IEEE. Professor Paynter has also recently been named to the National
Academy of Engineering.
Besides pioneering work in analog and digital computing, Dr. Paynter
is known worldwide as the inventor of bond graphs. He has published on
a wide variety of subjects in more than 100 papers, patents, articles,
and book chapters, as well as several books.