Robert Hansen, a longtime member of the San Fernando Valley JASNA Southwest reading group, passed away February 9, 2018 at the age of 91 following a long illness.
He was born in 1926 in Webster Groves, Missouri. From a young age, he showed a talent for electronics. He served in the Navy in World War II, where he taught electronics. He obtained his bachelor of electrical engineering from the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy on the GI bill. Bob went on to obtain his master’s and PhD in electrical engineering at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, where he met his late wife, Dorothy.
The couple married and moved to Southern California, where they had two daughters, Kathy and Peggy. Bob worked at Hughes Aircraft, NASA and TRW. He later established his own engineering consulting business. His expertise was microwave antennas (used for guided missiles) and spy satellites. He wrote several engineering textbooks that are still used today and have been translated into many languages.
In his spare time, he loved all things Austen, detective novels, opera and classical music, gardening and cats. He had a dry sense of humor, a big and generous heart, and will be missed by all who knew him.