William Webster Hansen

William Webster Hansen 1909-49, U.S. physicist, b. Fresno, Calif. Hansen received his doctorate in physics from Stanford in 1933 and joined the faculty there in 1934. He invented the high-quality cavity resonator on which the linear electron accelerator depends. During World War II he worked in New York on defense applications of physics and electronics, including radar. He is considered a founder of the field of microwave electronics.

Webster, Joseph Dana (1811–1876) U.S. army officer and engineer. Born in Hampton, New Hampshire, Joseph Dana Webster obtained a commission as a second lieutenant in the new Corps of Topographical Engineers in 1838. He rose to captain in 1853 after serving in the Mexican War (1846–48), but left the army a year later to do engineering work for Chicago. When the Civil War broke out he was appointed chief state engineer and began work on fortifications around Cairo. He became chief of staff for Ulysses S. Grant in late 1861, and received a colonel's commission early the next year. He served Grant at Forts Henry and Donelson, and gathered the massed artillery together at Shiloh (1862) that stabilized the situation there at the end of the first day. By the spring of 1863 Webster was a brigadier general in charge of all the railroads supplying Grant's army for the Vicksburg campaign. When Grant was transferred east Webster became chief of staff for William T. Sherman. When the army moved out for Atlanta, Webster supervised the railroads and insured a continuous flow of supplies. When Sherman abandoned his supply lines to march through Georgia, Webster assisted George Thomas to gather and supply the forces which won the Battle of Nashville (1864). Webster then rejoined Sherman at Savannah for the campaign into the Carolinas. At the end of the war, Webster was brevetted major general of volunteers. He returned to Chicago after the war, serving in a number of financial positions there until he died.