Henry Singleton
Encyclopedia
Henry Earl Singleton was an electrical engineer, business executive, and rancher/land owner. Singleton made significant contributions to aircraft inertial guidance and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering
. He co-founded Teledyne, Inc.
, one of Americas most successful conglomerates
and was its chief executive officer
for three decades. Late in life, Singleton became one of largest holder of ranchland in the United States.
, a few miles northwest of Fort Worth. His higher education began in 1933 at North Texas Agricultural College
, Arlington
. After two years there, he received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy
at Annapolis, Maryland
, starting over as a Plebe (Freshman) in 1935. His roommate was fellow Plebe George A. Roberts, who would later join him in developing Teledyne. During his first two years at Annapolis, Singleton ranked first in mathematics from a class of 820 students. A reoccurring medical problem made it necessary for him to leave the Academy in 1938.
After the Academy, Singleton elected to study electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT), and graduated in 1940, receiving both bachelor’s (Sc.B.) and master’s (Sc.M.) degrees in this field. During his first year there, he was a member of a three-man team that won the Putnam Prize in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition
, administered annually by the Mathematical Association of America
. Another member of the team was Richard P. Feynman, a future Nobel Prize Laureate. As described later, Singleton eventually returned to MIT for doctoral studies, earning the Sc.D. degree, also in electrical engineering, in 1950.
position as an electrical engineer at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory
, then located at the Navy Yard, Washington, D.C. Singleton was involved in analyzing a process that was eventually called “degaussing
,” giving protection to cargo ship from German-laid magnetic naval mines
by reducing the natural magnetic field surrounding the vessel’s steel hull.
In 1942, Philip M. Morse
, a professor at MIT, organized the Anti-Submarine Warfare Operations Research Group (ASWORG) on the staff of Admiral Ernest King
, then Chief of Naval Operations
. Having shown his mathematical skills in the degaussing developments, Singleton was invited to join the ASWORG; in doing so, he contributed to the founding of operations research
in America.
As the Allies prepared for re-conquering Europe, the Office of Strategic Services
(OSS – forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency) had a great demand for personnel with scientific capabilities. Singleton joined the OSS in 1944 and was sent to Europe. He remained there until the end of the war, and left the OSS when it was disbanded in the fall of 1945.
Singleton joined the ITT Corporation
at their New York City headquarters in 1946. ITT was at that time involved in straightening out its patent rights from wartime work in the U.S., as well as in Germany. With his education and wartime experience, Singleton took a position as a patent engineer, and served ITT in this function for two years.
In the fall of 1948, Singleton returned to MIT to pursue a doctorate in electrical engineering. He was able to obtain Jerome Wiesner
as his mentor. (Wiesner was later the President of MIT and also Science Advisor to three U.S. Presidents.) At the Rad Lab
during WWII, Wiesner had developed an important optimum linear filter and prediction technique. For his dissertation, Singleton generalized Wiesner’s technique for the nonlinear situation, making a major contribution to the emerging field of information theory
; he was awarded the Sc.D. degree in 1950.
While pursuing his doctorate, Singleton's efforts were sposored under a U.S. Army Signal Corps contract at the MIT Research Laboratory for Electronics. His accomplishments there also included the design and fabrication of an early digital computer – a special-purpose machine that computed correlation function
s.
After receiving his doctorate, Singleton accepted a position as a Research Associate with General Electric
in Schenectady, New York
. There he continued work in information theory and was introduced to advanced practices of industrial research and development. In 1951, Singleton was invited to join a new team headed by Charles B. “Tex” Thornton
in the Aerospace Group at Hughes Aircraft
; he accepted and moved to Los Angeles
. At Hughes, Singleton entered the emerging fields of digital and semiconductor electronics, applying these technologies in the development of the fire control system for the F-102 aircraft. In 1952, Singleton took his expertise to North American Aviation
’s Los Angeles Division to work on an inertial navigation system
for the Navajo missile.
Tex Thornton left Hughes in 1953, forming a firm initially called Electro-Dynamics; the next year, this became Litton Industries
. Singleton joined Litton in 1954, and by 1958, he was the Vice President and General Manager of the Electronics Engineering Division. During this period, he led the development of a new type of two-degree-of-freedom, low-drift gyroscope
with associated digital electronics. This formed the heart of the Litton LN-4 Inertial Navigation System, which was the first such guidance system for fighter aircraft. With Singleton serving as the chief salesman, the first adoption of the LN-4 was by the West German Air Force in 1959. When Singleton was named to the National Academy of Engineering
in 1979, the development of this gyroscope was cited as an example of his inventive genius.
, a colleague from Litton, formed a firm named Instrument Systems, located in Beverly Hills, California
. Arthur Rock
, one of America's first and most successful venture capitalists, financed the startup with a $450,000 investment and remained a Board Director for 33 years. With a Doctor of Commercial Science degree from Harvard and 10 years experience in industry, Kozmetsky complemented Singleton for developing a successful enterprise. Singleton served as Chairman and President, and Kozmetsky was the Secretary and Executive Vice President. Their basic plan was to build a major firm primarily through acquiring companies. In October, they acquired the majority of stock in Amelco, a small electronics manufacturing plant, and within a short time bought rights to the name Teledyne
and its associated logo.
, who had earlier worked for William B. Shockley
, co-inventor of the transistor
. Immediately before Amelco, Last had been a principal at Fairchild Semiconductor
, and used this experience to propel Teledyne into the integrated circuit
business. Called Electron Devices, this manufacturing operation was formed as a subsidiary of Amelco. With its main facility in Mountain View, California
, it was one of the pioneers in what is now commonly called the Silicon Valley
.
In addition to Amelco, Singleton also acquired two other electronics manufacturing firms, and by the end of 1960, Teledyne had about 400 employees and 80000 square feet (7,432.2 m²) of floor space devoted to engineering development and manufacturing. Teledyne stock was first offered to the public in May 1961. During its first full fiscal year of operations ending in October 1961, Teledyne had sales of $4,491,000 with a net income of $58,000.
Teledyne’s growth continued in 1962, with the acquisition of companies primarily through equity agreements. Singleton also began the expansion of company business into areas other than microelectronics and control systems. He formed Teledyne Systems as the centerpiece of the firm’s aerospace systems business. Teck A. Wilson, who had followed Singleton from Litton, was primarily responsible for diversifying the business base into government contracts, winning work for avionic systems in missile and space programs. By the end of the second fiscal year, Teledyne sales had increased 230 percent and net income by about 570 percent.
Over the next three years, Singleton was highly successful in further growing Teledyne. New companies were acquired in the microelectronics and microwave fields; power electrical products – including the first consumer products – were added. Teledyne Systems was greatly enlarged, and Teledyne Controls was established, moving the Company into the field of hydraulics
. In addition to industrial sales, Teledyne won significant contracts from NASA
and agencies of the Department of Defense
(DoD).
In early 1965, Teledyne had a major breakthrough in winning a large contract from the U.S. Navy
for an airborne computer system; Singleton had a personal involvement in the technical design. Called Integrated Helicopter Avionics System (IHAS), this program had been highly sought by IBM
and Texas Instruments
, and the win gave Teledyne a name in the military market. This caused a major jump in the stock price, from $15 to $65. By the end of the fiscal year, Teledyne had acquired 34 companies; sales were $86.5 million with net income of $3.4 million; there were about 5,400 employees; assets reached $66.5 million; and there were near 8 million outstanding shares of stock.
, had built Vasco into a mid-sized specialty steel producer headquartered in Pennsylvania. Vasco had a number of subsidiaries including Allvac, a producer of nickel, cobalt, and titanium alloys. This merger expanded the company into the Eastern U.S. and started the formation of material technologies as a major business activity of Teledyne.
Singleton, now assisted by Roberts, continued with major activities in acquiring new companies. In 1967, one of the largest of these was Brown Engineering, a firm headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama
. With NASA and DoD contracts for engineering services and research near $40 million, Brown Engineering added a new line of business for Teledyne. Singleton had been particularly impressed with their Research Laboratories, and personally conducted a scientific colloquium in Huntsville for the research staff.
Ryan Aeronautical in San Diego, California
, was also acquired by Singleton in 1967. Earlier noted for building Charles Lindberg’s Spirit of St. Louis
in the 1920s, Ryan was now the largest producer of unmanned drone
s for the military. Continental Motors was primarily owned by Ryan, and this acquisition brought Teledyne into the piston-powered engine business with both commercial and military customers.
In the remainder of the 1960s, Singleton led Teledyne in acquiring 90 more companies. A number of these were in consumer products, such as AquaTek with Water Pik and Shower Massage, Acoustic Research
with revolutionary new types of speakers, and Olson Electronics that operated retail stores across America. Packard Bell
had both consumer and government sales in computers and television receivers. Singleton established an International Marketing Office that handled sales in Europe, South America, and Asia, with annual sales near $800 million.
Singleton also added a diverse group of financial institutions, giving Teledyne contact and intimacy with the capital world. Thrift and loan banks were added by acquisition to units dealing with property, workers compensation, casualty, and life insurance. Most of the insurance investments were later consolidated into the Argonaut and Unitrin subsidiaries, and were ultimately spun off as independent companies.
Singleton divided Teledyne into Groups, and by the end of the 1960s, there were 16 Groups with 94 profit centers in 120 locations. Company presidents were given considerable freedom in their operations, but corporate maintained very close financial control and capital management. Teledyne sales in 1969 were $2.7 billion and net income was $372 million. The stock had a 2-for-1 split during 1967 and the same split in 1969.
As Teledyne moved into its second decade, some 150 firms had been acquired. Singleton then essentially stopped direct acquisition of companies and began investments in stock of technical firms. By the end of the second decade, Teledyne owned 31 percent of Curtiss-Wright
, 24 percent of Litton, as well as significant portions of a number of other well-known companies. This stock was mainly held by the insurance subsidiaries.
In the “bear” market
of the early 1970s, Teledyne stock fell from about $40 to less than $8; Singleton saw this as an opportunity to buy back Teledyne stock. In buybacks from October 1972 to February 1976, 22 million shares were repurchased at $14 to $40 – well above the market price. This raised the value of Teledyne stock, eventually increasing to near $175 at the end of the decade. In this period, annual income increased by 89 percent and net income by 315 percent. Stockholders who had remained through the buyback achieved a phenomenal gain of about 3,000 percent.
In a rare interview with Forbes
, Singleton used a metaphor to describe this growth: “Teledyne is like a living plant, with our companies the different branches, each putting out new branches so that no one business is too significant.”
Going into its third decade, Teledyne sales passed the $3 billion mark in 1980, with industrial products leading in both sales and net income. In the race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, government sales reached almost $800 million. Singleton made the first spin-off of a Teledyne operation in 1984. Teledyne Ecology had been involved in nuclear waste disposal, and some stockholders were concerned. He formed US Ecology, giving each stockholder one share for each seven Teledyne shares held, and allowing disposal of the new stock without reducing their Teledyne holdings. The first significant slump in Teledyne business began in 1985. Sales for 1984 had been about $3.49 billion, but decreased to around $3.26 billion the next year and remained essentially flat for the remainder of the decade.
At the annual meeting in April 1986, Singleton, who was then 69 years old, announced that he was turning the position of CEO over to Roberts, but was remaining as Board Chairman. During 1988, Teledyne faced a number of legal problems, none of which were the direct result of wrongdoings of Singleton or Roberts. After agreeing to plead guilty to making false statements, Teledyne was fined $17.5 million, but related lawsuits by “whistleblower
s” ultimately cost $115 million in settlements.
In April 1989, Singleton, after guiding Teledyne for 29 years, retired as an employee and officer. Nevertheless, that was a peak year for Teledyne sales ($3.53 billion) and earnings ($392 million). Teledyne stock price reached $388.88, the highest in the nation. Total employment also peaked at near 43,000.
Singleton retired as Teledyne Chairman in 1991, but remained on the Board. Roberts assumed the Chairman position, and relinquished direct management. Many companies had been sold during the prior several years, and in 1993, the number was further reduced from 65 to 21, primarily through consolidations. Beginning in late 1994, Teledyne was subjected to hostile takeovers attempts. Finally, on 15 August 1996, an agreement was reached to merge Teledyne with Allegheny Ludlum
, a steel and specialty metals firm headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
, and form Allegheny Teledyne, Inc. At that time, Singleton still owned 7.1 percent of the Teledyne stock. He retired from the Allegheny Teledyne Board in 1997.
In 1999, Allegheny Teledyne was split into three independent corporations, including Teledyne Technologies
, that encompassed several of the older remaining companies.
and, later, California. Beginning with the acquisition of the 81,000 acre (330 km²) San Cristobal Ranch south of Santa Fe
, in a relatively short time he had bought more than twenty ranches. Most were along the U.S. Route 285 corridor from Santa Fe to Roswell
with others in San Miguel
and Quay
Counties, and the 30,000 acre (120 km²) Shepherd Ranch in Guadaluoe
County. Singleton was not just a dilettante, but was directly involved with the ranch operations as well as in efforts to preserve the many archeological features on the land.
Within a 14-year period, Singleton purchased 28 other ranches, making the Singleton Ranches the largest cow-calf operation
in New Mexico. Singleton’s last acquisition was a 45,000 acre (180 km²) ranch in California. At the time of his death, he owned more than 1.5% of New Mexico. Now managed by his children, Singleton Ranches own 1100000 acres (4,451.5 km²) in New Mexico and California, and is one of the nation's top cattle- and horse-breeding operations. The Singleton Family is ranked as the fifth largest land-holder in America.
Singleton had met the former Caroline Woods of Cambridge, Massachusetts
, while he was first attending MIT, and they married in 1942. Caroline W. Singleton died in 2007. Throughout their years together, the Singletons commissioned two significant American architects for two notable houses. The first, designed by architect Richard Neutra
in 1959, was the well known mid-century modern 'Singleton House' in the Los Angeles Bel Air area. The second house was designed by architect Wallace Neff
in 1973; it was a large residence of French-Norman style in the Holmby Hills district of Los Angeles.
During his working years, Singleton served as a director of Apple Computer, Inc. (1977–1980); member of the MIT Corporation, the MIT Governing Board (1968–1973); trustee of California Institute of Technology (1968–1974); member of the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board (1959); and was a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE). A financial and political conservative, Singleton was co-trustee of the blind trust
for Ronald Reagan
while Regan was President of the United States
.
For recreation, Singleton played tournament chess, collected fine wines, and hiked and camped in the wilderness areas of California. A voracious reader, he could recite lengthy passages from Shakespeare and classical poetry. He studied Native American cultures and Western folklore.
Singleton devoted much time to personal computers, programming algorithms and creating a computer version of backgammon
specifically for Macintosh
fans. He was personally a primary financial backer of Apple Computer when it was incorporated in 1977.
in 1970. He received the Outstanding Achievement Award in Business Management from the University of Southern California
in 1972. His citation for membership in the National Academy of Engineering
in 1979 read: “For his contributions to lightweight inertial navigation systems and his leadership in the creation of a major technological corporation.” While an undergraduate student at MIT, he was named a Putnam Fellow after his three-man team won the William Lowell Putnam Intercollegiate Mathematics Competition in 1939. Warren Buffett
, one of the wealthiest men in the world, is quoted as saying that “Henry Singleton of Teledyne has the best operating and capital deployment record in American business."
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...
. He co-founded Teledyne, Inc.
Teledyne
Teledyne Technologies Incorporated is an industrial conglomerate primarily based in the United States but with global operations. It was founded in 1960, as Teledyne, Inc., by Henry Singleton and George Kozmetsky....
, one of Americas most successful conglomerates
Conglomerate (company)
A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate structure , usually involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a conglomerate is a multi-industry company...
and was its chief executive officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
for three decades. Late in life, Singleton became one of largest holder of ranchland in the United States.
Early Background
Henry Singleton was raised on a small ranch near Haslet, TexasHaslet, Texas
Haslet is a city in Denton and Tarrant counties in the U.S. state of Texas, settled between 1880 and 1883. The population was 1,517 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Haslet is located at ....
, a few miles northwest of Fort Worth. His higher education began in 1933 at North Texas Agricultural College
University of Texas at Arlington
The University of Texas at Arlington is a public research university located in Arlington, Texas, United States. The campus is situated southwest of downtown Arlington, and is located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. The university was founded in 1895 and served primarily a military...
, Arlington
Arlington, Texas
Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas within the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. According to the 2010 census results, the city had a population of 365,438, making it the third largest municipality in the Metroplex...
. After two years there, he received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
at Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. It had a population of 38,394 at the 2010 census and is situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east of Washington, D.C. Annapolis is...
, starting over as a Plebe (Freshman) in 1935. His roommate was fellow Plebe George A. Roberts, who would later join him in developing Teledyne. During his first two years at Annapolis, Singleton ranked first in mathematics from a class of 820 students. A reoccurring medical problem made it necessary for him to leave the Academy in 1938.
After the Academy, Singleton elected to study electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
(MIT), and graduated in 1940, receiving both bachelor’s (Sc.B.) and master’s (Sc.M.) degrees in this field. During his first year there, he was a member of a three-man team that won the Putnam Prize in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition
William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition
The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, often abbreviated to the Putnam Competition, is an annual mathematics competition for undergraduate college students of the United States and Canada, awarding scholarships and cash prizes ranging from $250 to $2,500 for the top students and $5,000...
, administered annually by the Mathematical Association of America
Mathematical Association of America
The Mathematical Association of America is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university, college, and high school teachers; graduate and undergraduate students; pure and applied mathematicians; computer scientists;...
. Another member of the team was Richard P. Feynman, a future Nobel Prize Laureate. As described later, Singleton eventually returned to MIT for doctoral studies, earning the Sc.D. degree, also in electrical engineering, in 1950.
Initial Professional Work
After graduating from MIT in 1940, and unable to meet the physical requirements for military service, Singleton took a Civil ServiceUnited States civil service
In the United States, the civil service was established in 1872. The Federal Civil Service is defined as "all appointive positions in the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of the Government of the United States, except positions in the uniformed services." . In the early 19th century,...
position as an electrical engineer at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory
Naval Ordnance Laboratory
The Naval Ordnance Laboratory , now disestablished, formerly located in White Oak, Maryland was the site of considerable work that had practical impact upon world technology. The White Oak site of NOL has now been taken over by the Food and Drug Administration.-History:The U.S...
, then located at the Navy Yard, Washington, D.C. Singleton was involved in analyzing a process that was eventually called “degaussing
Degaussing
Degaussing is the process of decreasing or eliminating an unwanted magnetic field. It is named after Carl Friedrich Gauss, an early researcher in the field of magnetism...
,” giving protection to cargo ship from German-laid magnetic naval mines
Naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
by reducing the natural magnetic field surrounding the vessel’s steel hull.
In 1942, Philip M. Morse
Philip M. Morse
Philip McCord Morse , was an American physicist, administrator and pioneer of operations research in World War II. He is considered to be the father of operations research in the U.S.- Biography :Morse graduated from the Case School of Applied Science in 1926 with a B.S. in physics. He earned his...
, a professor at MIT, organized the Anti-Submarine Warfare Operations Research Group (ASWORG) on the staff of Admiral Ernest King
Ernest King
Fleet Admiral Ernest Joseph King was Commander in Chief, United States Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations during World War II. As COMINCH, he directed the United States Navy's operations, planning, and administration and was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was the U.S...
, then Chief of Naval Operations
Chief of Naval Operations
The Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory office held by a four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Navy. The office is a military adviser and deputy to the Secretary of the Navy...
. Having shown his mathematical skills in the degaussing developments, Singleton was invited to join the ASWORG; in doing so, he contributed to the founding of operations research
Operations research
Operations research is an interdisciplinary mathematical science that focuses on the effective use of technology by organizations...
in America.
As the Allies prepared for re-conquering Europe, the Office of Strategic Services
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
(OSS – forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency) had a great demand for personnel with scientific capabilities. Singleton joined the OSS in 1944 and was sent to Europe. He remained there until the end of the war, and left the OSS when it was disbanded in the fall of 1945.
Singleton joined the ITT Corporation
ITT Corporation
ITT Corporation is a global diversified manufacturing company based in the United States. ITT participates in global markets including water and fluids management, defense and security, and motion and flow control...
at their New York City headquarters in 1946. ITT was at that time involved in straightening out its patent rights from wartime work in the U.S., as well as in Germany. With his education and wartime experience, Singleton took a position as a patent engineer, and served ITT in this function for two years.
In the fall of 1948, Singleton returned to MIT to pursue a doctorate in electrical engineering. He was able to obtain Jerome Wiesner
Jerome Wiesner
Jerome Bert Wiesner was an educator, a Science Advisor to U.S. Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy and Johnson, an advocate for arms control, and a critic of anti-ballistic-missile defense systems...
as his mentor. (Wiesner was later the President of MIT and also Science Advisor to three U.S. Presidents.) At the Rad Lab
Rad Lab
Rad Lab can refer to:*The Radiation Laboratory of Ernest O. Lawrence, now known as Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory*The wartime Radiation Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which aided in the development of radar...
during WWII, Wiesner had developed an important optimum linear filter and prediction technique. For his dissertation, Singleton generalized Wiesner’s technique for the nonlinear situation, making a major contribution to the emerging field of information theory
Information theory
Information theory is a branch of applied mathematics and electrical engineering involving the quantification of information. Information theory was developed by Claude E. Shannon to find fundamental limits on signal processing operations such as compressing data and on reliably storing and...
; he was awarded the Sc.D. degree in 1950.
While pursuing his doctorate, Singleton's efforts were sposored under a U.S. Army Signal Corps contract at the MIT Research Laboratory for Electronics. His accomplishments there also included the design and fabrication of an early digital computer – a special-purpose machine that computed correlation function
Correlation function
A correlation function is the correlation between random variables at two different points in space or time, usually as a function of the spatial or temporal distance between the points...
s.
After receiving his doctorate, Singleton accepted a position as a Research Associate with General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
in Schenectady, New York
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...
. There he continued work in information theory and was introduced to advanced practices of industrial research and development. In 1951, Singleton was invited to join a new team headed by Charles B. “Tex” Thornton
Tex Thornton
Charles Bates "Tex" Thornton was an American business executive who was the founder of Litton Industries.-Biography:...
in the Aerospace Group at Hughes Aircraft
Hughes Aircraft
Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded in 1932 by Howard Hughes in Culver City, California as a division of Hughes Tool Company...
; he accepted and moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. At Hughes, Singleton entered the emerging fields of digital and semiconductor electronics, applying these technologies in the development of the fire control system for the F-102 aircraft. In 1952, Singleton took his expertise to North American Aviation
North American Aviation
North American Aviation was a major US aerospace manufacturer, responsible for a number of historic aircraft, including the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F-86 Sabre jet fighter, the X-15 rocket plane, and the XB-70, as well as Apollo Command and Service...
’s Los Angeles Division to work on an inertial navigation system
Inertial navigation system
An inertial navigation system is a navigation aid that uses a computer, motion sensors and rotation sensors to continuously calculate via dead reckoning the position, orientation, and velocity of a moving object without the need for external references...
for the Navajo missile.
Tex Thornton left Hughes in 1953, forming a firm initially called Electro-Dynamics; the next year, this became Litton Industries
Litton Industries
Named after inventor Charles Litton, Sr., Litton Industries was a large defense contractor in the United States, bought by the Northrop Grumman Corporation in 2001.-History:...
. Singleton joined Litton in 1954, and by 1958, he was the Vice President and General Manager of the Electronics Engineering Division. During this period, he led the development of a new type of two-degree-of-freedom, low-drift gyroscope
Gyroscope
A gyroscope is a device for measuring or maintaining orientation, based on the principles of angular momentum. In essence, a mechanical gyroscope is a spinning wheel or disk whose axle is free to take any orientation...
with associated digital electronics. This formed the heart of the Litton LN-4 Inertial Navigation System, which was the first such guidance system for fighter aircraft. With Singleton serving as the chief salesman, the first adoption of the LN-4 was by the West German Air Force in 1959. When Singleton was named to the National Academy of Engineering
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...
in 1979, the development of this gyroscope was cited as an example of his inventive genius.
Teledyne Years
In June 1960, Singleton and George M. KozmetskyGeorge Kozmetsky
George Kozmetsky was a technology innovator, businessman, educator, author and philanthropist. He co-founded Teledyne Inc. and was the dean of The University of Texas College of Business Administration for 16 years. In 1977 Dr...
, a colleague from Litton, formed a firm named Instrument Systems, located in Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
. Arthur Rock
Arthur Rock
Arthur Rock is an American venture capitalist of Silicon Valley, California. He was an early investor in major firms including Intel, Apple Computer, Scientific Data Systems and Teledyne....
, one of America's first and most successful venture capitalists, financed the startup with a $450,000 investment and remained a Board Director for 33 years. With a Doctor of Commercial Science degree from Harvard and 10 years experience in industry, Kozmetsky complemented Singleton for developing a successful enterprise. Singleton served as Chairman and President, and Kozmetsky was the Secretary and Executive Vice President. Their basic plan was to build a major firm primarily through acquiring companies. In October, they acquired the majority of stock in Amelco, a small electronics manufacturing plant, and within a short time bought rights to the name Teledyne
Teledyne
Teledyne Technologies Incorporated is an industrial conglomerate primarily based in the United States but with global operations. It was founded in 1960, as Teledyne, Inc., by Henry Singleton and George Kozmetsky....
and its associated logo.
Formation and Early Growth
Singleton’s initial vision for Teledyne was that it would combine semiconductor device fabrication and control system development. Among the personnel from Amelco was Jay T. LastJay Last
Jay T. Last is a silicon pioneer and a member of the so-called Traitorous Eight that founded Silicon Valley.He was born in 1929 in Butler, Pennsylvania. He earned his bachelor's degree in Optics at the University of Rochester in 1951 and his Ph.D...
, who had earlier worked for William B. Shockley
William Shockley
William Bradford Shockley Jr. was an American physicist and inventor. Along with John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain, Shockley co-invented the transistor, for which all three were awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics.Shockley's attempts to commercialize a new transistor design in the 1950s...
, co-inventor of the transistor
Transistor
A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and power. It is composed of a semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current...
. Immediately before Amelco, Last had been a principal at Fairchild Semiconductor
Fairchild Semiconductor
Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. is an American semiconductor company based in San Jose, California. Founded in 1957, it was a pioneer in transistor and integrated circuit manufacturing...
, and used this experience to propel Teledyne into the integrated circuit
Integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
business. Called Electron Devices, this manufacturing operation was formed as a subsidiary of Amelco. With its main facility in Mountain View, California
Mountain View, California
-Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...
, it was one of the pioneers in what is now commonly called the Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
.
In addition to Amelco, Singleton also acquired two other electronics manufacturing firms, and by the end of 1960, Teledyne had about 400 employees and 80000 square feet (7,432.2 m²) of floor space devoted to engineering development and manufacturing. Teledyne stock was first offered to the public in May 1961. During its first full fiscal year of operations ending in October 1961, Teledyne had sales of $4,491,000 with a net income of $58,000.
Teledyne’s growth continued in 1962, with the acquisition of companies primarily through equity agreements. Singleton also began the expansion of company business into areas other than microelectronics and control systems. He formed Teledyne Systems as the centerpiece of the firm’s aerospace systems business. Teck A. Wilson, who had followed Singleton from Litton, was primarily responsible for diversifying the business base into government contracts, winning work for avionic systems in missile and space programs. By the end of the second fiscal year, Teledyne sales had increased 230 percent and net income by about 570 percent.
Over the next three years, Singleton was highly successful in further growing Teledyne. New companies were acquired in the microelectronics and microwave fields; power electrical products – including the first consumer products – were added. Teledyne Systems was greatly enlarged, and Teledyne Controls was established, moving the Company into the field of hydraulics
Hydraulics
Hydraulics is a topic in applied science and engineering dealing with the mechanical properties of liquids. Fluid mechanics provides the theoretical foundation for hydraulics, which focuses on the engineering uses of fluid properties. In fluid power, hydraulics is used for the generation, control,...
. In addition to industrial sales, Teledyne won significant contracts from NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
and agencies of the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
(DoD).
In early 1965, Teledyne had a major breakthrough in winning a large contract from the U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
for an airborne computer system; Singleton had a personal involvement in the technical design. Called Integrated Helicopter Avionics System (IHAS), this program had been highly sought by IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
and Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
, and the win gave Teledyne a name in the military market. This caused a major jump in the stock price, from $15 to $65. By the end of the fiscal year, Teledyne had acquired 34 companies; sales were $86.5 million with net income of $3.4 million; there were about 5,400 employees; assets reached $66.5 million; and there were near 8 million outstanding shares of stock.
Singleton-Roberts Years
A new era for Singleton and Teledyne started in 1966. In June, Kozmetsky left to become dean of the School of Business Administration at the University of Texas. In July, Vanadium-Alloy Steel Company (Vasco) was merged into Teledyne. With this merger, Singleton turned his position of President over to George A. Roberts, his close friend from Naval Academy days and who had headed Vasco. Roberts, who held a Ph.D. degree in metallurgyMetallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...
, had built Vasco into a mid-sized specialty steel producer headquartered in Pennsylvania. Vasco had a number of subsidiaries including Allvac, a producer of nickel, cobalt, and titanium alloys. This merger expanded the company into the Eastern U.S. and started the formation of material technologies as a major business activity of Teledyne.
Singleton, now assisted by Roberts, continued with major activities in acquiring new companies. In 1967, one of the largest of these was Brown Engineering, a firm headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is a city located primarily in Madison County in the central part of the far northern region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County. The city extends west into neighboring Limestone County. Huntsville's population was 180,105 as of the 2010 Census....
. With NASA and DoD contracts for engineering services and research near $40 million, Brown Engineering added a new line of business for Teledyne. Singleton had been particularly impressed with their Research Laboratories, and personally conducted a scientific colloquium in Huntsville for the research staff.
Ryan Aeronautical in San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
, was also acquired by Singleton in 1967. Earlier noted for building Charles Lindberg’s Spirit of St. Louis
Spirit of St. Louis
The Spirit of St. Louis is the custom-built, single engine, single-seat monoplane that was flown solo by Charles Lindbergh on May 20–21, 1927, on the first non-stop flight from New York to Paris for which Lindbergh won the $25,000 Orteig Prize.Lindbergh took off in the Spirit from Roosevelt...
in the 1920s, Ryan was now the largest producer of unmanned drone
Unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle , also known as a unmanned aircraft system , remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aircraft, is a machine which functions either by the remote control of a navigator or pilot or autonomously, that is, as a self-directing entity...
s for the military. Continental Motors was primarily owned by Ryan, and this acquisition brought Teledyne into the piston-powered engine business with both commercial and military customers.
In the remainder of the 1960s, Singleton led Teledyne in acquiring 90 more companies. A number of these were in consumer products, such as AquaTek with Water Pik and Shower Massage, Acoustic Research
Acoustic Research
Acoustic Research was a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company that manufactured high-end audio equipment. The brand is now owned by Audiovox. Acoustic Research was well known for the AR-3 series of speaker systems, which used the 12-inch acoustic suspension woofer of the AR-1 with newly designed...
with revolutionary new types of speakers, and Olson Electronics that operated retail stores across America. Packard Bell
Packard Bell
Packard Bell is a Dutch computer manufacturer and a subsidiary of Acer. The name was previously used by Packard Bell, an American radio manufacturer founded in 1926. In 1986, Israeli investors bought the name for a newly formed personal computer manufacturer. Originally the company produced...
had both consumer and government sales in computers and television receivers. Singleton established an International Marketing Office that handled sales in Europe, South America, and Asia, with annual sales near $800 million.
Singleton also added a diverse group of financial institutions, giving Teledyne contact and intimacy with the capital world. Thrift and loan banks were added by acquisition to units dealing with property, workers compensation, casualty, and life insurance. Most of the insurance investments were later consolidated into the Argonaut and Unitrin subsidiaries, and were ultimately spun off as independent companies.
Singleton divided Teledyne into Groups, and by the end of the 1960s, there were 16 Groups with 94 profit centers in 120 locations. Company presidents were given considerable freedom in their operations, but corporate maintained very close financial control and capital management. Teledyne sales in 1969 were $2.7 billion and net income was $372 million. The stock had a 2-for-1 split during 1967 and the same split in 1969.
As Teledyne moved into its second decade, some 150 firms had been acquired. Singleton then essentially stopped direct acquisition of companies and began investments in stock of technical firms. By the end of the second decade, Teledyne owned 31 percent of Curtiss-Wright
Curtiss-Wright
The Curtiss-Wright Corporation was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the United States at the end of World War II, but has evolved to largely become a component manufacturer, specializing in actuators, aircraft controls, valves, and metalworking....
, 24 percent of Litton, as well as significant portions of a number of other well-known companies. This stock was mainly held by the insurance subsidiaries.
In the “bear” market
Market trend
A market trend is a putative tendency of a financial market to move in a particular direction over time. These trends are classified as secular for long time frames, primary for medium time frames, and secondary for short time frames...
of the early 1970s, Teledyne stock fell from about $40 to less than $8; Singleton saw this as an opportunity to buy back Teledyne stock. In buybacks from October 1972 to February 1976, 22 million shares were repurchased at $14 to $40 – well above the market price. This raised the value of Teledyne stock, eventually increasing to near $175 at the end of the decade. In this period, annual income increased by 89 percent and net income by 315 percent. Stockholders who had remained through the buyback achieved a phenomenal gain of about 3,000 percent.
In a rare interview with Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
, Singleton used a metaphor to describe this growth: “Teledyne is like a living plant, with our companies the different branches, each putting out new branches so that no one business is too significant.”
Going into its third decade, Teledyne sales passed the $3 billion mark in 1980, with industrial products leading in both sales and net income. In the race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, government sales reached almost $800 million. Singleton made the first spin-off of a Teledyne operation in 1984. Teledyne Ecology had been involved in nuclear waste disposal, and some stockholders were concerned. He formed US Ecology, giving each stockholder one share for each seven Teledyne shares held, and allowing disposal of the new stock without reducing their Teledyne holdings. The first significant slump in Teledyne business began in 1985. Sales for 1984 had been about $3.49 billion, but decreased to around $3.26 billion the next year and remained essentially flat for the remainder of the decade.
At the annual meeting in April 1986, Singleton, who was then 69 years old, announced that he was turning the position of CEO over to Roberts, but was remaining as Board Chairman. During 1988, Teledyne faced a number of legal problems, none of which were the direct result of wrongdoings of Singleton or Roberts. After agreeing to plead guilty to making false statements, Teledyne was fined $17.5 million, but related lawsuits by “whistleblower
Whistleblower
A whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company...
s” ultimately cost $115 million in settlements.
In April 1989, Singleton, after guiding Teledyne for 29 years, retired as an employee and officer. Nevertheless, that was a peak year for Teledyne sales ($3.53 billion) and earnings ($392 million). Teledyne stock price reached $388.88, the highest in the nation. Total employment also peaked at near 43,000.
Singleton retired as Teledyne Chairman in 1991, but remained on the Board. Roberts assumed the Chairman position, and relinquished direct management. Many companies had been sold during the prior several years, and in 1993, the number was further reduced from 65 to 21, primarily through consolidations. Beginning in late 1994, Teledyne was subjected to hostile takeovers attempts. Finally, on 15 August 1996, an agreement was reached to merge Teledyne with Allegheny Ludlum
Allegheny Technologies
Allegheny Technologies, Inc. is a specialty metals company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States. Allegheny Technologies is one of the largest and most diversified specialty metals producers in the world with revenue of $3.0 billion in 2009. ATI's key markets are...
, a steel and specialty metals firm headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, and form Allegheny Teledyne, Inc. At that time, Singleton still owned 7.1 percent of the Teledyne stock. He retired from the Allegheny Teledyne Board in 1997.
In 1999, Allegheny Teledyne was split into three independent corporations, including Teledyne Technologies
Teledyne
Teledyne Technologies Incorporated is an industrial conglomerate primarily based in the United States but with global operations. It was founded in 1960, as Teledyne, Inc., by Henry Singleton and George Kozmetsky....
, that encompassed several of the older remaining companies.
Rancher
Late in his life, Henry Singleton began investing in a field far removed from the world of semiconductors and control systems. His new passion was land. In the mid-1980s, Singleton started buying ranches in New MexicoNew Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
and, later, California. Beginning with the acquisition of the 81,000 acre (330 km²) San Cristobal Ranch south of Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
, in a relatively short time he had bought more than twenty ranches. Most were along the U.S. Route 285 corridor from Santa Fe to Roswell
Roswell, New Mexico
Roswell is a city in and the county seat of Chaves County in the southeastern quarter of the state of New Mexico, United States. The population was 48,366 at the 2010 census. It is a center for irrigation farming, dairying, ranching, manufacturing, distribution, and petroleum production. It is also...
with others in San Miguel
San Miguel County, New Mexico
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*66.6% White*1.4% Black*1.7% Native American*0.8% Asian*0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.9% Two or more races*25.5% Other races*76.8% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
and Quay
Quay County, New Mexico
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*86.1% White*1.1% Black*1.2% Native American*1.0% Asian*0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.4% Two or more races*7.2% Other races*42.4% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
Counties, and the 30,000 acre (120 km²) Shepherd Ranch in Guadaluoe
Guadalupe County, New Mexico
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*70.4% White*1.7% Black*1.9% Native American*1.3% Asian*0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.3% Two or more races*21.4% Other races*79.6% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
County. Singleton was not just a dilettante, but was directly involved with the ranch operations as well as in efforts to preserve the many archeological features on the land.
Within a 14-year period, Singleton purchased 28 other ranches, making the Singleton Ranches the largest cow-calf operation
Cow-calf operation
A cow-calf operation is a method of raising beef cattle in which a permanent herd of cows is kept by a farmer or rancher to produce calves for later sale. Cow-calf operations are one of the key aspects of the beef industry in the United States and some other countries. In the British Isles, a...
in New Mexico. Singleton’s last acquisition was a 45,000 acre (180 km²) ranch in California. At the time of his death, he owned more than 1.5% of New Mexico. Now managed by his children, Singleton Ranches own 1100000 acres (4,451.5 km²) in New Mexico and California, and is one of the nation's top cattle- and horse-breeding operations. The Singleton Family is ranked as the fifth largest land-holder in America.
Personal life
At 83 years of age, Henry Singleton, died of brain cancer on August 31, 1999, at his West Los Angeles home. He was survived by his wife of 53 years, Caroline, and five children.Singleton had met the former Caroline Woods of Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, while he was first attending MIT, and they married in 1942. Caroline W. Singleton died in 2007. Throughout their years together, the Singletons commissioned two significant American architects for two notable houses. The first, designed by architect Richard Neutra
Richard Neutra
Richard Joseph Neutra is considered one of modernism's most important architects.- Biography :Neutra was born in Leopoldstadt, the 2nd district of Vienna, Austria Hungary, on April 8, 1892. He was born into both-Jewish wealthy family...
in 1959, was the well known mid-century modern 'Singleton House' in the Los Angeles Bel Air area. The second house was designed by architect Wallace Neff
Wallace Neff
Wallace Neff was an architect based in Southern California and was largely responsible for developing the region's distinct architectural style referred to as "California" style...
in 1973; it was a large residence of French-Norman style in the Holmby Hills district of Los Angeles.
During his working years, Singleton served as a director of Apple Computer, Inc. (1977–1980); member of the MIT Corporation, the MIT Governing Board (1968–1973); trustee of California Institute of Technology (1968–1974); member of the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board (1959); and was a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a non-profit professional association headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence...
(IEEE). A financial and political conservative, Singleton was co-trustee of the blind trust
Blind trust
A blind trust is a trust in which the fiduciaries, namely the trustees or those who have been given power of attorney, have full discretion over the assets, and the trust beneficiaries have no knowledge of the holdings of the trust and no right to intervene in their handling...
for Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
while Regan was President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
.
For recreation, Singleton played tournament chess, collected fine wines, and hiked and camped in the wilderness areas of California. A voracious reader, he could recite lengthy passages from Shakespeare and classical poetry. He studied Native American cultures and Western folklore.
Singleton devoted much time to personal computers, programming algorithms and creating a computer version of backgammon
Backgammon
Backgammon is one of the oldest board games for two players. The playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice, and players win by removing all of their pieces from the board. There are many variants of backgammon, most of which share common traits...
specifically for Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
fans. He was personally a primary financial backer of Apple Computer when it was incorporated in 1977.
Honors and Recognitions
Henry Singleton was honored for establishing the Singleton Research Fellowship at the City of Hope Pilot Medical CenterCity of Hope National Medical Center
City of Hope National Medical Center, is a private, not-for-profit clinical research center, hospital and graduate medical school located in Duarte, California, United States...
in 1970. He received the Outstanding Achievement Award in Business Management from the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
in 1972. His citation for membership in the National Academy of Engineering
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...
in 1979 read: “For his contributions to lightweight inertial navigation systems and his leadership in the creation of a major technological corporation.” While an undergraduate student at MIT, he was named a Putnam Fellow after his three-man team won the William Lowell Putnam Intercollegiate Mathematics Competition in 1939. Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is widely regarded as one of the most successful investors in the world. Often introduced as "legendary investor, Warren Buffett", he is the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is...
, one of the wealthiest men in the world, is quoted as saying that “Henry Singleton of Teledyne has the best operating and capital deployment record in American business."