IN MEMORIAM

Richard Edgar Mortensen

Professor of Electrical Engineering, Emeritus

Los Angeles

1935–2004

On October 26, 2004, Richard Edgar Mortensen, also known as Dick Mortensen, passed away suddenly at his home in Topanga from natural causes. Dick enjoyed a long and productive career at the University of California at Los Angeles from 1965 to 1991.

 

Dick was born in Denver, Colorado on September 29, 1935, the only child of Edgar and Frieda Mortensen. He attended Denver public schools. In 1953, he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was awarded simultaneously his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering in 1958. After graduation, he went to work for Space Technology Laboratories (now Northrop Grumman) where he applied mathematical and engineering skills in control theory to the control of rockets and spacecraft for NASA’s early space program. His particular specialty was attitude control. He was the first to propose the use of quaternion feedback for attitude control of rigid spacecraft.

 

In 1961, Dick entered the Ph.D. program in electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and in 1966 was awarded the Ph.D. degree. His dissertation was titled: “Optimal Control of Continuous-time Stochastic Systems” which was recognized by the control systems community as one of the pioneering works on stochastic control theory.

 

In 1965, he joined the faculty of the College of Engineering (now the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science) at UCLA. As a member of the now disestablished System Science Department, he was awarded tenure in 1970. His affiliation changed when the System Science Department merged with the Electrical Engineering Department in 1984. He was promoted to full professor in 1990. Dick was known for his keen intellect, broad range of knowledge, and his contribution to stochastic nonlinear control systems. He authored many published technical papers, letters and book reviews, as well as unpublished university, government, and industry technical reports. He wrote one book, Random Signals and Systems, John Wiley, 1987. His most recent work focused on the development of load models for electric power systems. Dick served as a consultant to several major engineering firms in Los Angeles, and he was a guest lecturer at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, in 1991. He has been listed in Who’s Who in the World.

 

Dick taught a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in the area of system theory and control. He took his teaching responsibilities seriously. He was noted for his carefully prepared lectures and effective teaching that emphasized understanding of the basic principles and ideas.

 

Dick was a brilliant researcher and deeper thinker. He described himself as having a dichotomy of interests, one in the mathematical theory of control, and the other in seeking spiritual meaning of life. He expressed disappointment that so much work on control theory was used in advancing military objectives. He was a fervent advocate of peace, and protection of wildlife throughout the world. In 1991, he retired as professor emeritus to further his latter interest.

 

Dick was divorced and had no children. He is survived by several cousins, including David Wallace of Colorado Springs, and Joanne Montgomery of Denver, Colorado. He will be greatly missed.

 

 

Nhan N. Levan

Donald M. Wiberg

Paul K. Wang