George Nicholas Hatsopoulos (January 7, 1927 – September 20, 2018) was a Greek American mechanical engineer noted for his work in thermodynamics and for having co-founded Thermo Electron.

Early life Hatsopoulos was born in Athens, Greece in 1927 and is related to the former rector of the Athens Polytechnic School, Nicolas Kitsikis. He attended Athens Polytechnic before entering MIT, where he received his Bachelor and Master of Science (1950), Mechanical Engineer (1954), and Doctorate of Science (1956).MIT. (1956) Appointments To Administrative Positions And Four Faculty Changes Announced. The Tech. LXXVI No. 15, 3 http://tech.mit.edu/V76/PDF/N15.pdf

Hatsopoulos-Keenan reformulation of thermodynamics

In 1965, he and Joseph Keenan published their textbook Principles of General Thermodynamics, which restates the second law of thermodynamics in terms of the existence of stable equilibrium states. Their formulation of the second law of thermodynamics states that:

The Hatsopoulos-Keenan statement of the Second Law entails the Clausius, Kelvin-Planck, and Carathéodory statements of the Second Law, and has provided a basis to extend the traditional definition of entropy to the non-equilibrium domain. Hatsopoulos and Keenan maintained that it is unlikely to identify a satisfactory definition of heat without a prior statement of the second law.

Hatsopoulos helped pioneer academic work in quantum thermodynamics. In the Spring term of 1971 at MIT, he and Elias Gyftopoulos offered what is regarded as the first university course titled "Quantum Thermodynamics". It was a graduate-level class designated 2.47J.MIT Bulletin 1970-71. In 1976, he also contributed to the formulation of a unified theory of mechanics and thermodynamics, arguably a precursor of the emerging interconnected fields of nonequilibrium thermodynamics and quantum thermodynamics (see e.g. Refs.https://www.quantumthermodynamics.org. Retrieved 2010-05-29 )

Academic and industry leader While at MIT, Hatsopoulos was head of the engineering division of Matrad Corporation of New York. Matrad Corporation and MIT also provided financial support for his doctoral thesis, The Thermo-Electron Engine.Hatsopoulos, George Nicholas. (1956). The Thermo-Electron Engine. Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/12098 Matrad Corporation was owned by the family of Peter M. Nomikos, a Harvard Business School graduate. In 1956, Hatsopoulos founded the Thermo Electron Corporation with a founding investment by Peter Nomikos. Many years later, George asked his brother (John Hatsopoulos) to join the company as financial controller.It Don't Mean a Thing If You Ain't Got that Green: HBS and the Birth of Venture Capital. HBS Bulletin Online, December 1996. http://www.alumni.hbs.edu/bulletin/1996/december/start.html Thermo Electron became a major provider of analytical instruments and services for a variety of domains. In 1965, George Hatsopoulos was president of the Thermo Electron Engineering Corporation and Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at M.I.T.

Recognition In 1961, Hatsopoulos received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. Hatsopoulos was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering in 1978. In 1996, Hatsopoulos won the John Fritz Medal, which is the highest American award in the engineering profession and presented each year for scientific or industrial achievement in any field of pure or applied science. In 1997, he was awarded the 3rd Annual Heinz Award in Technology, the Economy and Employment.The Heinz Awards, George Hatsopoulos profile

In 2011, along with Arvin Smith and John Hatsopoulos, he was awarded the 2011 Pittcon Heritage Award from the Chemical Heritage Foundation.

Hatsopoulos is also a recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence.

He died on September 20, 2018, at the age of 91.George Hatsopoulos Obituary His net worth was reported as US$481 million in 2017.

See also History of thermodynamics

References

External links George Hatsopoulos - Biography George Hatsopoulos - National Academy of Engineering, chairman and CEO