Al Hoagland

Al Hoagland was born in Berkeley, California, on September 13, 1926. His parents were Dennis Robert Hoagland (1884–1949), and Jessie A. Smiley (1894–1933). He had two brothers, Robert Charles H. and Charles Rightmire H. His father was a Professor of Plant Nutrition at the University of California at Berkeley. His mother Jessie, died suddenly of pneumonia when Al Hoagland was 7 years old.{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/hoagland-dennis-robert|title=Hoagland, Dennis Robert | Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}

Hoagland started his studies at the University of California, Berkeley in 1944. He completed his BS degree in Electrical Engineering in 1947, his MS in 1948, and his PhD in 1954 (Paul Morton, advisor). Hoagland became interested in the California Digital Computer (CALDIC) project being pursued at Berkeley and signed up with Paul L. Morton as research advisor and took on the responsibility for developing the system's magnetic drum memory.[http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2011/09/102716418-05-01-acc.pdf A. Hoagland, "Magnetic Disk Storage: a personal memoir", Computer History Museum, p.4, Sept. 2011]{{Cite journal|url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6372170|title=Magnetic drum recording of digital data|first=Albert S.|last=Hoagland|date=September 29, 1954|journal=Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Part I: Communication and Electronics|volume=73|issue=4|pages=381–385|via=IEEE Xplore|doi=10.1109/TCE.1954.6372170|s2cid=51668051 |url-access=subscription}} Hoagland received an M.Sc. in 1948 with a thesis entitled "Magnetic Storage Methods for Electronic Computation".[https://books.google.com/books?id=vgE5AQAAMAAJ Albert Smiley Hoagland, "Magnetic Storage Methods for Electronic Computation", University of California, Berkeley, Eighty-Sixth Commencement, p. 20, June 1949] He went on to obtain a Ph.D. in 1954 with the dissertation "Magnetic Recording of Binary Information",[https://books.google.com/books?id=M_o4AQAAMAAJ "Magnetic Recording of Binary Information", Register - University of California, 91st Commencement, Berkeley, Vol. 2, p. 59, 1953-54]{{Cite web|url=https://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/Dissertations/Years/1954.html|title=Ph.D. Dissertations | EECS at UC Berkeley|website=www2.eecs.berkeley.edu}} both under the supervision of Paul Morton. Hoagland was an assistant professor at Berkeley in 1954-55,

In 1953, while still at Berkeley, Hoagland received a visit from Lou Stevens{{Cite web|url=https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/general-news/20080416/aptos-man-to-be-inducted-into-the-national-inventors-hall-of-fame-in-may|title=Aptos man to be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May|date=April 16, 2008}} who had recently graduated from the CALDIC project and joined IBM's newly established west coast lab in San Jose, California led by Rey Johnson. Stevens was leading the RAMAC Hard Disk Drive development and, because of the shared interest, Hoagand was invited to be a consultant on the project where he contributed to the magnetic component (heads and media) design and data-detection design.

In 1956, Hoagland left Berkeley and formally joined the IBM San Jose laboratory shortly before the announcement of the IBM RAMAC. Hoagland conducted some of the first studies on track-following servo for HDD and wrote an early patent.{{Cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US3034111A/en|title=Data storage system}}{{Cite journal|url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5392390|title=A High Track-Density Servo-Access System for Magnetic Recording Disk Storage|first=A. S.|last=Hoagland|date=October 29, 1961|journal=IBM Journal of Research and Development|volume=5|issue=4|pages=287–296|via=IEEE Xplore|doi=10.1147/rd.54.0287|url-access=subscription}} Hoagland also conducted some of the first experiments with perpendicular recording.{{Cite journal|url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1211152|title=History of magnetic disk storage based on perpendicular magnetic recording|first=A.S.|last=Hoagland|date=July 29, 2003|journal=IEEE Transactions on Magnetics|volume=39|issue=4|pages=1871–1875|via=IEEE Xplore|doi=10.1109/TMAG.2003.813786|bibcode=2003ITM....39.1871H |s2cid=17654707 |url-access=subscription}} In 1962, he took an assignment in Rotterdam to support Philips in converting the national banking systems to disk storage. He used the opportunity to write the book "Digital Magnetic Recording" published in 1963. Hoagland's tenure at IBM included serving as Director for Technical Planning for the IBM Research Division.{{Cite web|url=https://www.computer.org/profiles/albert-hoagland|title=Albert S. Hoagland | IEEE Computer Society}}

In 1982, IBM asked Hoagland to work together with Denis Mee and Mark Kryder to establish data storage centers to promote collaboration between industry and academia. The first two centers established were at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) and at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Hoagland played a particular role with Jim Lemke in establishing the [https://cmrr.ucsd.edu/ Center for Magnetic Recording Research] (CMRR) at UCSD where he assumed a role as the first director on a temporary basis (1983–84) before John Mallinson (physicist) took up the role.{{Cite web|url=https://sites.google.com/ucsd.edu/cmrr-35/home/history-of-directors|title=CMRR 35 - History of Directors|website=sites.google.com}} Noting that there was no such “center” in the Santa Clara Valley where most of the disk drive technologists were located, Hoagland proposed starting such a center at Santa Clara University (SCU).

In 1984, Hoagland left IBM to join Santa Clara University as an adjunct professor and as the founding director of the new Institute for Institute for Information Storage Technology (IIST) at SCU.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ee.scu.edu/people/ppahoagland.html|title=Santa Clara University Department of Electrical Engineering|website=www.ee.scu.edu}}{{Cite web|url=https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=eng_news|title=School of Engineering, "Engineering News, Spring 2005" (2005). Engineering News. Book 7, page 1}} The Institute (IIST) was responsible for organising numerous short courses, symposia, and an annual workshop at Lake Arrowhead, California on the data storage industry and technology, including both optical recording and magnetic recording{{Cite journal|url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/204839|title=The information storage technology program at Santa Clara University|first1=A.S.|last1=Hoagland|first2=A.D.|last2=Hospodor|date=February 28, 1993|journal=IEEE Transactions on Education|volume=36|issue=1|pages=168–171|via=IEEE Xplore|doi=10.1109/13.204839|bibcode=1993ITEdu..36..168H |url-access=subscription}}[https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102736074 Computer History Museum, No. 102736074: "IIST courses and other sympsosia and conferences" (J.N. Porter collection)]

In 2001, Hoagland established the Magnetic Disk Heritage Center (MDHC) with the mission “to preserve the story and historical legacy of magnetic disk storage at 99 Notre Dame, San Jose, California, where it all began.” Hoagland, as director of the center, secured commitments from San Jose city council to preserve this site where the RAMAC was designed and to get it designated as an IEEE Historical Milestone.{{Cite web|url=https://www.electronicdesign.com/technologies/embedded-revolution/article/21767452/ieee-salutes-the-harddisk-drive-with-a-milestone-award|title=StackPath|website=www.electronicdesign.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.thesanjoseblog.com/2014/07/sourisseau-news-99-notre-dame.html|title=Sourisseau News: 99 Notre Dame, the Birthplace of the Magnetic Disk Drive|first=Joshua|last=Santos}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.aes-media.org/historical/html/recording.technology.history/ibm-pr.html|title=IBM Press Release|website=www.aes-media.org}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2011/02/03/cassidy-ibms-big-influence-on-silicon-valley/|title=Cassidy: IBM's big influence on Silicon Valley|date=February 3, 2011}} In 2002, Hoagland acquired an original RAMAC from IBM. The restoration was started at IIST and subsequently completed at the Computer History Museum where the working RAMAC is now routinely demonstrated.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ed-thelen.org/RAMAC/|title=RAMAC Restoration|website=www.ed-thelen.org}} An archive copy of the MDHC website is held at the Computer History Museum, Mountain View.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

In 2005, Hoagland retired from his position at Santa Clara University and moved to Portland, Oregon.{{Cite web|url=https://magazine.scu.edu/magazines/fall-2005/the-drive-to-create/|title=The Drive to Create}}

He died in Portland on October 1, 2022, survived by his three children.

Hoagland has received the following awards and recognition:

• In 1956, Hoagland received the AIEE Outstanding Paper Award for "Magnetic Data Recording Theory: Head Design".{{Cite journal|url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6372417|title=Magnetic data recording theory: Head design|first=Albert S.|last=Hoagland|date=November 29, 1956|journal=Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Part I: Communication and Electronics|volume=75|issue=5|pages=506–512|via=IEEE Xplore|doi=10.1109/TCE.1956.6372417|s2cid=51670284 |url-access=subscription}}
• In 1966, He was elevated to IEEE Fellow for "Contributions to the Fields of Magnetic Recording and Computer Data Storage".[https://ethw.org/w/images/3/33/A_Century_of_Honors.pdf IEEE A Century of Honors: Hoagland, Albert S., page 257, 1984]
• From 1972 to 73, Hoagland was president of the IEEE Computer Society.
• From 1974 to 75, he was an IEEE Director (Board Member)
• From 1974 to 1980, he was President of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies (AFIPS)
• In 1984, he received the IEEE Centennial Medal{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}
• In 1990, he receive the IEEE Computer Society Meritorious Service Certificate for “years of dedicated service to improving the society’s operations and support to volunteers”.{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/computer-magazine-1991-01|title=Computer Magazine 1991-01|date=January 29, 1991|via=Internet Archive}}
• In 1991, he received the IBM, RAMAC Pioneer Award {{citation needed|date=December 2022}}
• In 1996, he was awarded the IEEE Computer Society Golden Core Award, 1996{{Cite web|url=https://www.computer.org/volunteering/awards/golden-core|title=Golden Core Recognition | IEEE Computer Society}}
• In 2000, he was one of the recipients of the IEEE Third Millennium Medal {{citation needed|date=December 2022}}
• Hoagland was also a trustee of the Charles Babbage Foundation for the History of Computing{{Cite journal|url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/969958|title=A perspective on the history of the Charles Babbage Institute and the Charles Babbage Foundation|first=A.L.|last=Norberg|date=October 29, 2001|journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing|volume=23|issue=4|pages=12–23|via=IEEE Xplore|doi=10.1109/85.969958|s2cid=18378152 |url-access=subscription}}

Hoagland has authored and coauthored numerous scientific publications generally around the topics of magnetic recording and hard disk drives.[https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/37324136000 IEEE Author Profile: A.S. Hoagland] In 1963, Hoagland published the first book devoted to digital magnetic recording. It was reviewed by Marvin Camras.[https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=1445668 M. Camras, "Review of Digital Magnetic Recording by A. S. Hoagland", Proc. IEEE, Vol. 53, No. 3, p. 335, March 1965] An updated second edition co-authored with Jim Monson was published in 1991[https://books.google.com/books?id=2CZTAAAAMAAJ A. Hoagland, J. Monson, "Digital Magnetic Recording", 2nd ed., Wiley, 1991 ]

{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoagland, Al}}

Category:1926 births

Category:2022 deaths

Category:American engineers

Category:IBM people

Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni

Category:Santa Clara University faculty

Category:People from Berkeley, California