Oral history interview with James Henry Wakelin, Jr.

Abstract

The interview covers Wakelin's career, including his education, work at the Navy Department and Engineering Research Associates (ERA), and later consulting work. The first part of the interview reviews his education at Dartmouth, Cambridge, and Yale, and his first job at B.F. Goodrich. He discusses his work in the Navy department during World War II, where he was involved with their first use of modern computers. Through this Wakelin came in contact with William Norris and others who founded ERA. Wakelin discusses his own plans to establish a consulting company after the war and his decision to join ERA. He discusses his work in ERA's Washington D.C. office from 1945 to 1948, where he was primarily involved with securing Navy contracts. Other aspects about ERA in the late 1940s are discussed, including his relationships with John Parker, C. B. Tompkins, and others. He concludes with a review of his later work with a textile institute affiliated with Princeton.