John Dennis Norgard PhD/PE FIEEE

On October 4, 2026, the engineering world lost a giant as Dr. John Norgard passed away at the age of 83 due to health complications. He led a storied engineering career made possible only by the enduring dedication of his wife of 60 years, Olivia. They married in June of 1966 and together moved from Georgia to California, then to Colorado in pursuit of John’s career. Blessed with twin girls Tina and Turi, the family lived and prospered on their Colorado acreage. The greatest tragedy of their lives befell them when Turi passed away in 2008. Also in 2008, John moved to Houston to continue and expand his career, while supporting his family who remained in Colorado.

John’s life story was anchored by his roots in Norway and his parents immigrated from there. The family lived on a rugged farm in the mountains of fjord country. Their homestead was called Nordgaard, which meant ‘North Farm’, and the name was shortened to Norgard when the family came to America.

John received a BSEE degree from Georgia Tech in 1966, and Master of Science and PhD degrees in Applied Physics from Caltech in 1967 and 1969 respectively. He worked as a co-op student trainee at the Charleston Naval Shipyard while at Georgia Tech and while at Caltech as a Research Associate with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and also as a National Science Foundation Fellow, he worked on the design of communication antennas for the Viking Lander to Mars.

After graduating from Caltech, he returned to his roots and was a Post Doctoral Fellow at the University of Oslo, Norway, working with the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment and the Auroral Observatory studying plasma models of the polar ionosphere that included the effect of the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights).

He returned to Georgia Tech to teach as a Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering, worked part time with Bell Telephone Laboratories and took sabbatical leaves to engage in work with the Weapons Lab on Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque and at the Tel-Aviv University in Israel.

During his time in Rome, NY he worked for the Rome Air Development Center (RADC) as an Air Force Office of Scientific Research Fellow and Chief Scientist on a project for F22 stealth aircraft that predicted and measured the effects of rocket plumes on the coupling of electromagnetic (EM) energy into the guidance systems of missiles. Also, while in Rome at the Air Force Research Laboratory, he developed microwave tomographic techniques to detect and identify hidden targets buried in the ground, under foliage, and behind walls.

John served as the Dean of the College of Engineering & Applied Science at the University of Colorado and as the Chair of the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. He established and was chairman of a new department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. While at the University of Colorado (CU), he designed and constructed a large broadband Microwave Anechoic Chamber and developed an EM lab based on the extended measurement capabilities of the chamber. Supported by the Metrology Division at the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST/Boulder), he developed a new infrared (IR) imaging technique using IR thermograms/holograms to measure and visualize EM fields. This IR technique is being used to measure the fields generated by high-power microwave weapon systems in testing and development by the AFRL at the Phillips Research Site (Directed Energy Directorate), Kirtland, AFB.

John’s most recent employment was as Chief Engineer for Prime Contractor Jacobs/Amentum located at NASA/Johnson Space Center in Houston, testing spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Spacecraft tested included the International Space Station, Artemis (the most recent trip to the moon) and Orion (the future trip to Mars), docking with Gateway, Lunar SpaceSuit design and Vibrating Intrinsic Reverberation Chamber (ViRC) design, construction and testing. This type of work continued with his last employer, Axiom Space, also in Houston.

Among John’s other accomplishments, he held a joint appointment with the US Air Force Academy. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the IEEE/EMC Society, was the Vice-President of Technical Services, and the Vice-President of Standards. He was on the Board of Physics and Astronomy for the National Research Council (NRC) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

John was described by a colleague as being a “natural teacher” who possessed the ability to make incredibly complex electromagnetic physics feel accessible, exciting and deeply human. His life stretched from a quiet mountain farm in Norway to the farthest reaches of our solar system. He will be deeply missed by his family, his former students and the colleagues worldwide who had the privilege of working with and learning from him. John is survived by his wife, Olivia, his daughter, Tina and his grandson, Brendan.