Bernard D. Loughlin EE’39

Bernard Loughlin was born in New York City in 1917.  He went by the name of Barney Loughlin.  He earned his bachelors in Electrical Engineering from The Cooper Union in 1939 and his professional degree in electrical engineering, also from Cooper, in 1945.  He then earned a master’s degree from Steven’s Institute in 1946.  Bernard’s uncle, Charles Weingardner, was also a Cooper Union graduate, and he is the one that interested him in ham radio.  While still a student at Cooper, Bernard built a television receiver that was able to pick up in New Jersey, signal broadcast from the Empire State Building.

He worked his entire career at Hazeltine and he served as a Trustee on Hazeltine’s Board from 1978 to 1983.

While the first color televisions were made by RCA in 1949, the Shunted Monochrome color television was invented by Bernard Loughlin at Hazeltine Corp. in 1950, and that technology quickly replaced the prior.

During his career, he was awarded 122 patents. Royalties from his major patents produced millions of dollars for Hazeltine.  “Bernard Loughlin is known nationally and internationally best for ‘putting the color into television’ and more formerly as the ‘Grandfather of Color TV’.” — Long Island Technology Hall of Fame

In 1951, he received  the Vladimer Zworkin award from the IRE.  1955, he received the David Zarnoff Gold medal award.

In 1965, he received the Modern Pioneer Scroll Award from the National Association of Manufacturers.  He received a Cooper Union Presidential Citation in 1969. In 1970, he received the CUAA Gano Dunn Award.  And in 1972, he received a Consumers Electronics Award form the IEEE.  In 1973, He received a citation from the International Television Symposium.  In 1978, he received an Engineering Emmy Award.  And in 1981 he received an Armstrong Medal from the Radio Club of America for his pioneering contributions in Color TV.  He was inducted into the Cooper Union Hall of Fame in 2009.

He passed away on December 25, 2008.

References:

Memorial Tributes, National Academy of Engineering.  Volume 5. National Academy Press, 1992, pp 185 -190.  Link

Long Island Technology Hall of Fame.  Link

Early Color Television, RCA Dot Sequential System (US, 1949), The Early Television Museum.  Link