Leonard L. Northrup Jr.
| Leonard L. Northrup Jr. | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
March 18, 1918 Houston Texas |
| Died | March 24, 2016 (aged 98) Dallas, Texas |
| Residence | United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Solar engineering |
| Institutions |
NASA Sandia Labs Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory US Department of Energy Energy Research and Development Administration |
| Alma mater |
Southern Methodist University University of Denver Harvard University |
| Known for | Active and Passive Solar technology, Stone Architecture |
| Influences |
John Yellott Harry Tabor Maria Telkes |
| Notable awards |
ASHRAE American Institute of Architects Patents |
Leonard "Lynn" L. Northrup Jr. (March 18, 1918 – March 24, 2016) was an American engineer who was a pioneer of the commercialization of solar thermal energy. Influenced by the work of Professor John Yellott, Dr. Maria Telkes, and Harry Tabor, Northrup's company designed, patented, developed and manufactured some of the first commercial solar water heaters, solar concentrators, solar-powered air conditioning systems, solar power towers and photovoltaic thermal hybrid systems in the United States. The company he founded became part of ARCO Solar, which in turn became BP Solar, which became the largest solar energy company in the world. Northrup was a prolific inventor with 14 US patents.
Lynn Northrup Jr., a fourth generation Texan, was the son of L. L. Northrup Sr., an inventor in his own right, and Dolly McKaskle Northrup, a retail entrepreneur, both members of pioneer Texas families. He was educated at Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas, Texas, and received a BA from Southern Methodist University, a MS from the University of Denver, and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. Northrup served as a captain the United States Army Corps of Engineers during and shortly after World War II.
After the War, Northrup went to work for Storm Vulcan, a Dallas company, where he invented a machine to clean aircraft engines. He also embarked on a venture to fit cars with air conditioning equipment, putting the machinery in the trunk and piping the cooled air through tubes in the headliner. This caught the interest of engineers from General Motors, who copied the system in Cadillacs in the late 1940s. "After market" automotive AC units were manufactured in Texas until the 1980s. He also sold some of the first air conditioning units, built by the Curtis Mathes Corporation, an early leader in manufacturing window units. Northrup married Jane Keliher and started a family in Dallas, where he designed and built one of the first single-family houses in the United States with central air conditioning. He founded a company to install air conditioning in residential and commercial buildings. With a Marketing Plan from G F Sweetman (CEO of American Awards Co), he became one of largest suppliers of Curtis Mathes fans and compressors in the nation. He also developed a company to manage, install, update, and clean air filtration systems.
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