George N. Hatsopoulos

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George N. Hatsopoulos (January 7, 1927 – September 20, 2018) was a Greek-American mechanical engineer known for his work in thermodynamics and for co-founding Thermo Electron. He was born in Athens, Greece, studied at the Athens Polytechnic, and then attended MIT, where he earned a B.S. and M.S. in 1950, a Mechanical Engineer degree in 1954, and a Doctorate of Science in 1956.

In 1956, Hatsopoulos and Peter Nomikos co-founded Thermo Electron Corporation; Hatsopoulos later brought his brother John Hatsopoulos into the company as financial controller. While at MIT, he led the engineering division of Matrad Corporation, which helped support his doctoral work on The Thermo-Electron Engine.

Hatsopoulos made major contributions to thermodynamics. In 1965 he and Joseph Keenan published the textbook Principles of General Thermodynamics, which presents a form of the second law based on stable equilibrium and extends the concept of entropy to non-equilibrium states. Their Hatsopoulos–Keenan statement integrates the Clausius, Kelvin–Planck, and Carathéodory formulations of the second law and influenced the development of quantum thermodynamics.

In 1971, Hatsopoulos and Elias Gyftopoulos taught what is regarded as the first university course in quantum thermodynamics (graduate level 2.47J) at MIT. In 1976 he contributed to a unified theory of mechanics and thermodynamics, a forerunner of nonequilibrium and quantum thermodynamics.

Hatsopoulos received several honors, including the Golden Plate Award (1961), the John Fritz Medal (1996)—the highest American engineering award—and the Heinz Award in Technology, the Economy and Employment (1997). In 2011 he, along with Arvin Smith and John Hatsopoulos, received the Pittcon Heritage Award. He also earned The International Center in New York’s Award of Excellence. Hatsopoulos died on September 20, 2018, in Lincoln, Massachusetts, at age 91. His net worth was reported at about $481 million in 2017.