Remembering Donald P. Eckman (1915–1962) [Historical Perspectives]

During this period in which the IEEE Control Systems Society and the American Automatic Control Council (AACC) celebrates more than 50 years of successful service to the control community, one of the names best known to members of these organizations is that of Donald P. Eckman. The Eckman Award recognizes outstanding young contributors to the control field and is the oldest AACC award. Probably less well known are the contributions of Donald Eckman himself and the nature of the man for whom the award is named.