Hartman, Dr. Kenneth J.
Dates
- Existence: 1917-2011
Biography
Kenneth Hartman was born in 13 April 1917 in Bloomington, IL (6 days after U.S. declared war on Germany) to George and Anna Mather Hartman. The family moved to northeastern Iowa, but as a child of the depression, Hartman could not afford to go to The University of Iowa as he wished and took his B.A. in Engineering at St. Ambrose College, Davenport. He entered the U.S. Army in 1942, was accepted into the ASTP (Army Specialized Training Program), and sent to The University of Iowa in January 1944 for the German Geopolitical Program. In April 1944 the course ended, the ASTP disbanded, and the men were assigned to infantry divisions in Europe. Hartman was sent to Antwerp, Belgium, where he endured 175 days of continuous V-1 and V-2 rocket attacks (from October 7, 1944 to March 30, 1945). He left the Army at the end of 1945, and returned to Iowa in January 1946 to complete an MA in 1947 on the GI Bill. He later completed a PhD in psychology/human behavior at California Western University (currently United States International University) in San Diego. While completing this degree, by 1962, Hartman was employed by North American Aviation, Inc., and became senior research engineer for crew performance and training in the manned space program, working for 13 years with the Apollo program. Most of his contributions to Human Factors Engineering were classified. When the Apollo Program ended, he worked at McDonell Douglas on the Star Wars missile defense system. He resigned from the space program in 1975, and taught statistics and math aboard U.S. Navy ships until 1987, then moving from California to Eugene, Oregon, lecturing from time to time at the University of Oregon. His wife, Janet Duffy Hartman, died in 1991. Kenneth Hartman died October 15, 2011, age 94. He was survived by a son Robert and two grandchildren.
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
Dr. Kenneth J. Hartman Papers
Hartman trained as an engineer and served in the Army during World War II, later earning a Ph.D. in psychology. From 1962 to 1975, he was attached to the manned space program and served much of that time as Senior Research Engineer for Crew Performance and Training for North American Aviation, Inc. Much of his work was classified. His papers, accumulated long after retirement, document varied aspects of the Apollo and related space programs, particularly the lives of the early astronauts and their families.