Charles H. Holley
- Birthplace
- Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Associated organizations
- General Electric (GE)
- Fields of study
- Power
- Awards
- IEEE Nikola Tesla Award
Biography
Charles H. Holley was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, attended Ford City, Pennsylvania High School. and received a BSEE degree from Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. He joined the General Electric Company in 1941, and after completing the student engineering test program, held positions in installation and field engineering and jet engine development before beginning his distinguished career in the mechanical and electrical design of large generators, rated over 200,000 KVA. In 1952 he was appointed Manager-Generator Development Engineering, responsible primarily for the development of new stator and rotor cooling systems and new advanced insulation systems. In 1959 he advanced to the position of Manager-Generator Product Engineering and three years later he became Manager-Generator Engineering with overall responsibility for the development and design of all large steam turbine-driven generators.
Under his leadership many new concepts in generator design and performance concepts were developed, including the first large generators with liquid-cooled stator windings, gap pickup rotor windings. new insulation systems. new excitation systems, and new early warning systems of machine malfunction. These advances were accompanied by a substantial improvement in the reliability of these large machines.
In 1974 he was appointed to the position of General Manager-Electric Utility Systems Engineering Department where he is responsible for providing technical support and consulting services on power systems for the General Electric Company as well as to electric utilities and Government agencies involved in energy systems research and development work.
He was an IEEE Fellow, a member of the Rotating Machinery Committee and the recipient of the l975 IEEE Region I award "for leadership and management of large-scale research, development and production organizations in the electrical power field".
He was a member of CIGRE, and has been the U.S. Representative to the CIGRE Rotating Machinery Committee. He was a member of the ANSI C50 Subcommittee for synchronous machines. In 1976 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
Chuck Holley was married to the former Winifred McGinn of Lynn. Massachusetts. They had four children and six grandchildren. Chuck liked to sail, to play tennis, to read nonfiction, and team sports. He was active in church and civic affairs.
