Hillard Bell Huntington ’32 *33

A PIONEER RESEARCH physicist and distinguished professor, Hill Huntington died of cancer at his home in Troy, NY, on July 17, 1992.

After several years of graduate work and teaching, Hill obtained his Ph.D. in physics from Princeton. His academic career was interrupted by Pearl Harbor, whereupon he spent the next four years working on radar at M.I.T. In 1946 he joined the faculty of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, serving there for 12 years beyond his formal retirement in 1976. One of the world's first solid state physicists, his early research hastened the development of integrated circuits and computer chips. Author of over 100 scholarly articles, he was chairman of the physics department at R.P.I. from 1961 to 1968, received the Distinguished Faculty Award in 1975, and was named Outstanding Educator of America that year. He was also visiting professor at Yale and Cornell, and in 1977 received an honorary degree from the University of Nancy in France.

An accomplished painter, Hill was active in the Rensselaer County Council for the Arts, served as a member and officer of the Friends of Chamber Music, and was a former vestryman at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Troy.

Survivors include Ruth, Hill's wife of 53 years; his three sons, Frederick W., Hillard G., and David C.; and six grandchildren. To all of them the Class extends its profound sympathy in the loss of one who contributed so much to science and his community.

The Class of 1932