Mayo Dyer Hersey Files (OF.1UF.H2)

Biographical/Historical Note

Mayo Dyer Hersey was born in Pawtuxet Neck, Rhode Island in 1886 and graduated from Colorado College with a bachelor of arts degree in 1907. He went on to earn a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from M.I.T. and a master of arts degree in physics and mathematics from Olivet College - both in 1910. Between 1910 and 1920, Hersey was a physicist at the National Bureau of Standards, and from 1922 to 1926 he was chief of the physical laboratory of the U.S. Bureau of Mines in Pittsburgh. Throughout this time - from 1910 to 1922 - he taught at M.I.T. During WWI, Hersey worked on aeronautical instruments, and from 1934 to 1936 he was a lecturer and research associate at Brown. However, Hersey continued to work in the goverment, working for 15 years at the National Bureau of Standards and serving as a consultant for the Manhattan Project at Columbia during WWII. Afterwards, Hersey worked for the Naval Engineering Experiment Station at Annapolis from 1947 to 1957, finally retiring from government service in 1957. Hersey then returned to Brown in 1957 as a visiting professor. In 1965, Hersey became the first recipient on the Mayo D. Hersey award for "outstanding and continued contributions to the field of lubrication science and engineering," an annual award presented by the American Society of Engineering. In 1967, Hersey was given the American Society of Mechnical Engineers Medal. In 1974, he was awarded a gold medal by a group of British engineering societies for his life's work in alleviating the energy shortage. Hersey lived in Providence for the rest of his life, dying at age 92 in 1978.