Francis Bacon Crocker

Crocker was a Columbia graduate; the wide-ranging education he received broadened his professional outlook. After a stint in the industry, during which he co- founded the Crocker-Wheeler Electric Motor Company, he returned to Columbia as a Professor. He combined his technical work with activities in electrical engineering professional organizations. He was an early president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE). Because of his industrial experience he understood keenly the role of standards in the growing field of electrical equipment and chaired AIEE’s first industrial standards committee. According to Thomas Edison, “[Crocker’s] painstaking work earned the lasting gratitude of every one connected with the industry throughout the world”. Lord Kelvin called Crocker “one of the world’s two greatest electrical engineers”.

Source:

  • Francis Bacon Crocker obituary, The New York Times, July 11, 1921, p. 11.