Harry H. Goode

Harry H. Goode (June 30, 1909 – October 30, 1960) was an American computer engineer and systems engineer and professor at the University of Michigan. He is known as co-author of the book Systems Engineering from 1957, which is one of the earliest significant books directly related to systems engineering.

Biography

Harry H. Goode was born in New York City in 1909. He received his B.A. in history from New York University in 1931, when the country was in the depths of the Depression. While studying chemical engineering at Cooper Union, Goode earned his living playing the clarinet and saxophone in New York jazz bands. He received his second bachelor's degree in 1940. During the war he attended Columbia University and received a master's degree in mathematics in 1945.

In 1941 Goode started working as a statistician for the New York City Department of Health. From 1946 to 1949 Goode worked for the U.S. Navy in Sands Point, Long Island, where he became head of the Special Projects Branch. Here he contributed to flight control simulation training, aircraft instrumentation, antisubmarine warfare, weapons systems design, and computer research and initiated computerbased simulation projects.