Obed Crosby Haycock

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Obed Crosby Haycock (1901–1983) was a scientist, teacher, and early Utah radio station owner who spent most of his career at the University of Utah. He started the KLGN station in Logan in 1954.

Haycock was born October 5, 1901, in Panguitch, Utah, to Edna Crosby and George Albert Haycock. He earned a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Utah in 1925 and studied at Utah State University. He earned an M.S. from Purdue University in 1931.

During World War II he researched radio communication in Panama and later served as Utah’s director of vocational education. He also worked as a research engineer at Rutgers (1944–45).

Haycock was a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Utah for 33 years. In 1957 he became the director of upper air research labs there, a role he held for ten years. He helped pioneer rocket studies of the upper atmosphere, starting with captured German V‑2 rockets. His work explored the ionosphere and magnetosphere and how they affect weather, radio, and the aurora. Much of his research supported the U.S. Army and later the Air Force. He witnessed the Bikini Atoll nuclear test and studied its ionospheric effects.

He received the University of Utah’s Outstanding Engineer Award and was an IEEE Fellow. He belonged to several honor societies and wrote many professional works, including an article on electrical power for Utah.

He married Martha Mary Harding in 1926 and had five children. He later married Ellen Lyon Smith in 1964. A member of the LDS Church, he also served as a Boy Scout leader. He died December 10, 1983, in Salt Lake City and was buried there.