Harry Nyquist [Pioneer in CAS]

Harry Theodor Nykvist was born on February 7, 1889 in Nilsby, a small village in Sweden. He was the fourth child among eight siblings. His father, Lars Jonsson Nykvist, was a shoemaker, his grandfather was a watchmaker. Nykvist was more interested in intellectual pursuits than working at a small farm. He was a very good student and his teacher contacted Harry’s parents and suggested that he should be encouraged to become a teacher. The social situation in Sweden at the time was such that there were few possibilities for a person from a poor family to study. His teacher proposed that Harry should emigrate to USA where he could realize his full potential. Nykvist took menial work on a farm and at a local sulphate factory to raise money for travel. In 1907 he left Sweden, landed in Boston, changed spelling of his family name to Nyquist. He traveled to Minneapolis where first worked at a livery stable and then at a farm to raise money for his studies. He enrolled in the Southern Minnesota Normal College in Austin, Minneapolis, where he met Antonia Wachlin and proposed to her. At the time they did not know that it would take eight years before they could marry. After one year he interrupted his studies and took a teaching job. He was persuaded to continue his studies to get a diploma for teaching in high school. He finished in 1911 as the valedictorian in his class. After teaching one year at Belgrade High School in Minnesota, he continued his academic career at the University of North Dakota (UND) in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He was very active in the Engineering Society and finished with BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering. Nyquist’s professors saw his academic potential and recommended him to apply for a scholarship at Yale University. He was accepted at Yale and finished a PhD in Physics in 1917 at the age of 28. The thesis topic was “On the Stark effect in helium and neon”
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