Howard W. Knobel

Professor Emeritus

Howard W. Knoebel began his career as a research associate in the Control Systems Laboratories in 1950, and worked there until 1957 at which time he transferred to the Coordinated Science Laboratory as a research associate professor and was promoted to research professor in 1964. He worked on various electronics instrumentation projects, including the development of the "electrostatic gyroscope," a high-precision inertial navigation instrument now used in aircraft and nautical guidance systems.

In 1964, he had a joint appointment with the Department of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering and the Coordinated Science Laboratory. His research group developed a radio propagation system using sounding rockets to measure upper atmosphere electron density and collision frequency. His work in control systems brought him in contact with a GE 242 (now GE 494), Project Design, in applying fluidic devices in developing a highway vehicle system for severely handicapped individuals.

In 1975, he joined the Department of General Engineering where he was a key member of the project design faculty as well as teaching GE 103, GE 104, GE 193, GE 222, GE 242, and GE 393. He retired in May 1979, but continued as a professor emeritus on a part-time basis until May 1989, teaching the the project design course.

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