In the 1960s, Hanszen College was home to a Rice inventor. Thomas L. Wilson graduated in 1964 with a BA in electrical engineering. But before he left, he applied for a patent: US 3,545,266, Noninertial strapping-down gravity gradient navigation system. Though it was not granted until well after he left--December of 1970--the address shown on the patent is still Hanszen College.
Learning about Thomas L. Wilson during his time as an Owl and a Hanszenite was challenging. He not use his full first name and middle initial at all times, thus becoming one of two Tom Wilsons studying at Rice during roughly the same period. I can't blame him for the truncation or generally leaving out the L., but it made separating Tom Wilson, Hanszen, '64, from Tom Wilson, Baker, '63, difficult. They were both very active members of student societies and, as best as I could tell, may have been on the Honor Council around the same time.
The Thresher exacerbated the Honor Council confusion because writers did not usually specify year or college when mentioning either Tom.
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| Thresher notification of the upcoming 'Engineer' publication. Notice the lack of year, major, or college associated with his name. |
Luckily, the '63 and '64 Campanile provided enough photos to generally tell them apart; Thomas L. Wilson's senior picture and blurb were particularly useful.
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| Thomas L. Wilson's junior year Campanile photo |
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Mr. Wilson's senior blurb |
That said, here's a little bit about Tom Wilson, the inventor from Hanszen:
- He was an editor in a newly established student periodical, The Rice Engineer. Evidently, a bathroom was the most appropriate site for the editorial/management group photo.
- Tom also joined groups related to his studies, both the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and Pre-Med Society.
- As a senior, he was elected and initiated into Tau Beta Pi, an engineering honors society.
Mr. Wilson was at the top of his engineering classes. - His interests were not only in the sciences; he was also a member of Eulenspiegel, which had a description that, today, I find mildly alarming, and wholly uninformative as to its purpose.
This likely would not appear in a description today - Tom took great exception to a professor's letter to the Thresher criticizing recent student activities, mostly because it was submitted anonymously.
Mr. Wilson did not approve of a professor anonymously authoring a critical letter to the Thresher
Mr. Wilson's patent is extremely technical, but for those who are interested, you can read it's entirety by visiting this link.
Congrats to Hanszen for being the only Rice college to appear on a patent!
Credits for Thresher and Campanile images:
The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 51, No. 13, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 11, 1963. Rice University, https://hdl.handle.net/1911/66369.
Rice University. "The Campanile,1963." (1963) https://hdl.handle.net/1911/106133.
Rice University. "The Campanile,1964." (1964) https://hdl.handle.net/1911/106134.
The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 52, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 3, 1964. Rice University, https://hdl.handle.net/1911/66396.