Background
Norden, Rudolph Warner Van was born in 1876 in St. Albans, Vermont, United States. Son of Charles and Anna Hubbell (Mygatt) Van Norden.
Norden, Rudolph Warner Van was born in 1876 in St. Albans, Vermont, United States. Son of Charles and Anna Hubbell (Mygatt) Van Norden.
Student Cornell University, 1892-1894. Bachelor of Arts in Mech. Engineering, Stanford, 1896.
Began as assistant engineer with Central California Electric Company (merged into Pacific Gas & Electric Company 1905), Sacramento, 1896, division superintendent, 1905-1906. Construction engineering, San Francisco, California, since 1906. Technical adviser to the United States Secretary of Interior on Boulder Dam questions, 1929-1930.
Construction engineering, United States bureau of Reclamation. Chief statistician San Francisco Traffic Survey, 1937. Associate engineer Federal Power Commission, 1938.
Technical engineer Federal Public Works Administration, 1938-1939. Consultant electrical engineer, 9th Corps Area, Zone Construction, Quartermaster corpus, United States army, 1941. Has been construction engineering State of California, Department of Public Works of San Francisco, Oakland, Stockton Modesto, Susanville, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, various companies, irrigation districts and individuals.
Supervising engineer. Locomotive fueling plant (oil), Southern Pacific relocation, Shasta Dam Central Valleys project, California, 1942. Technology engineer on design and construction of low-head hydro-electrical powerplant for Truckee-Carson Irrigation District, Nevada, 1946-1947.
Designed 30 hydro-electrical power plants and supervised construction of 8 of these. Designed over 50 high dams. Owner of patent on multicone type of dams, also on electric-magnetic reduction gear for ship propulsion.
Has frequently appeared as expert witness. Rated Head Engineer by United States Civil Service, 1942.
Member of Court of Honor, San Francisco area, Boy Scouts of America. Fellow and life; member Kappa Alpha (Southern). Mason.; Club: Engineers.
Married Rowena Fay Jackson, October 12, 1904 (died January 11, 1929).