Maurice W. Long (April 20, 1925 – October 14, 2023) was an American

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

, radar engineer, and physicist. He served as director of the

Georgia Tech Research Institute The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit applied research arm of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. GTRI employs around 3,000 people, and was involved in nearly $1 ...

from 1968 to 1975. He worked as a part-time radar consultant, principal research engineer at GTRI and adjunct professor of electrical engineering at

Southern Polytechnic State University Southern Polytechnic State University (also called Southern Poly; abbreviated SPSU) was a public university, public, co-educational, state university in Marietta, Georgia, United States approximately northwest of downtown Atlanta. Until 2015, ...

Education

Long received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in electrical engineering from the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

in 1946. He also received a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

in physics and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from Georgia Tech, and a Master of Science in electrical engineering from the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

Career

Long began his career at the Engineering Experiment Station (now known as the

) in 1946 as he completed his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at Georgia Tech. By 1963, he was serving as the chief of the Electronics Division of the Engineering Experiment Station. Long succeeded Wyatt Whitley as director of the Engineering Experiment Station in 1968 and was also given the title of associate dean for research as part of institute president Edwin D. Harrison's attempts to bring the academic departments and the station closer together. In 1970, institute president Arthur Hansen moved to absorb the station entirely into the institute. Long resisted this move, feeling that it would compromise the effectiveness of the station. The complete integration of the Engineering Experiment Station and the institute's academic units never occurred, in part due to Long's outspokenness on the issue and in part due to James E. Boyd's selection as interim president upon Hansen's resignation in 1971. During Long's tenure as director, the Engineering Experiment station set a new record of $5.2 million in grants and contracts in

fiscal year A fiscal year (also known as a financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. La ...

1970-71 in spite of an economic recession and government budget cuts. In July 1971, the station lost half of its state funding, resulting in layoffs of a large number of research personnel and the reorganization of the station to make it more financially independent by shifting its focus toward soliciting revenue-generating contracts. Long's annual report of 1972-73 reflected this change, where he defined the station as "a client-oriented research center supported primarily by Federal and industrial grants." The shift in funding led the station toward more environmentally-related research and the development of alternative energy sources. Long retired as director of the Engineering Experiment Station in 1975, but continued to serve as a consultant. He also worked as a private radar consultant, most notably serving as a liaison scientist with the U.S. Office of Naval Research in

London, England London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He has written and edited several books on radar systems including ''Radar Reflectivity of Land and Sea'' and ''Airborne Early Warning System Concepts''.

Personal life and death

Long married Beverly Benson in 1963, the couple had two children together. Long died on October 14, 2023, aged 98.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Long, Maurice W. 1925 births 2023 deaths Georgia Tech faculty Georgia Tech alumni American electrical engineers 21st-century American physicists People from Madisonville, Kentucky