Gabriel Kron

Gabriel Kron (1901–1968) was a Hungarian American electrical engineer who promoted the use of methods of linear algebra, multilinear algebra, and differential geometry in the field. His method of system decomposition and solution called Diakoptics is still influential today. Though he published widely, his methods were slow to be assimilated. At Union College a symposium was organized by Schaffer Library on "Gabriel Kron, the Man and His Work", held October 14, 1969. H.H. Happ edited the contributed papers, which were published by Union College Press as Gabriel Kron and Systems Theory.

Early life Gabriel Kron was born in 1901 in Baia Mare in Transylvania, Hungary. In 1919 he graduated from the gymnasium. By that time Transylvania had been ceded to Romania. Kron's older brother Joseph returned home, which he had left when he was ten years old. Joseph wished for a professional degree, but had no schooling after grade five. Gabriel tutored Joseph, who passed various exams, culminating in the high-school exam in 1920. In December of that year the two left home for the United States. The brothers earned their living in New York City with odd jobs such as dish washer, bus boy, or working machines in garment factories.

Career Kron's career developed within the General Electric corporation and has been described by P.L. Alger Alger explains that Kron made a positive impression at an AIEE conference held in New York in January 1934. The behavior of an electrical network was described as a dynamical system confined to a Non-Riemannian space. General Electric vice president Roy C. Muir "invited Gabe to join the staff of the Advanced Engineering Program under A.R. Stevenson". Furthermore, Philip Franklin of Massachusetts Institute of Technology approved Kron's paper for publication in MIT Journal of Mathematics and Physics, May 1934. "The paper instantly provoked widespread discussion and controversy. Many mathematicians derided his work: it was just for show, it was needlessly complex, or it was of no practical use."

According to Alger, Kron "worked with fifteen different managers while with General Electric". Alger explained, "Kron’s value was largely in the inspiration he gave to others and in distant objectives that seemed to business managers to be merely dreams." From 1936 to 1942 Kron published primarily in the General Electric Review. In 1942 John Wiley & Sons published his A Short Course in Tensor Analysis for Electrical Engineers. As recalled by Keith Bowden, "In the fifties, when Kron’s ideas were first introduced, controversy raged over their validity." Banesh Hoffmann was one academic that supported Kron's initiative. Hoffman wrote the Introduction to the second edition of Kron's book, now titled Tensors for Circuits (1959), distributed by Dover Publications.

In 1945 Kron suggested an approach to the Schrödinger equation with networks. The same year he used equivalent circuits to solve differential equations.

Kron proved to be a versatile employee: He worked in the Large Steam Turbine Engineering Department (1942), contributed to the control of atomic reactor piles (1945), and collaborated with Simon Ramo, Selden Crary, and Leon K. Kirchmayer on power systems. Alger notes that Kron "was a pioneer, not an educator. He used to imply that hard work is necessary for the mastery of any subject, and it does no good to make the way to understanding too easy." In 1951 Kron published Equivalent Circuits of Electrical Machinery. While continuing with laboratory and turbine assignments on weekdays, Kron began to prepare Diakoptics on his own. His vision realized with publication, in 1963 Kron was assigned to Analytical Engineering Division with H.H. Happ. Together they reviewed Kron's theory, and after Kron's death Happ published Diakoptics and Networks (1971).

A bibliography of Kron's writings is given as an appendix to Gabriel Kron and Systems Theory, pages 165 to 172. An earlier bibliography was compiled in 1959 and appeared in pages xiii to xviii of his book Tensors for Circuits.

Awards and honors Kron received the following awards and honors: 2nd edn. 1965.

Dover reprint 1967. (Dover 2nd edition of the book formerly entitled A short course in tensor analysis for electrical engineers)