George N. Hatsopoulos

Early life

Hatsopoulos was born in Athens, Greece in 1927 and is related to the former rector of the Athens Polytechnic School, Nicolas Kitsikis. He attended Athens Polytechnic before entering MIT, where he received his Bachelor and Master of Science (1950), Mechanical Engineer (1954), and Doctorate of Science (1956).

Academic and industry leader

While at MIT, Hatsopoulos was head of the engineering division of Matrad Corporation of New York. Matrad Corporation and MIT also provided financial support for his doctoral thesis, The Thermo-Electron Engine. Matrad Corporation was owned by the family of Peter M. Nomikos, a Harvard Business School graduate. In 1956, Hatsopoulos founded the Thermo Electron Corporation with a founding investment by Peter Nomikos. Many years later, George asked his brother (John Hatsopoulos) to join the company as financial controller. Thermo Electron became a major provider of analytical instruments and services for a variety of domains. In 1965, George Hatsopoulos was president of the Thermo Electron Engineering Corporation and Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at M.I.T.