D. Van Holliday

Who is D. Van Holliday?

Dr. Dale Vance Holliday was born in Ennis, Texas and attended the University of Texas at Austin. He graduated with a B.S. and M.A. in Physics and did extensive theoretical and experimental research on the Mössbauer effect. He died in San Diego on February 4, 2010 after a period of illness.

Holliday became one of the first 100 employees of Tracor in 1962 and quickly became Director of Analysis and Applied Research in the Electronic Systems Division. In 1965 Holliday left Austin to develop the Tracor facility in San Diego and began his doctorate in applied physics at the University of California, San Diego.

In San Diego Holliday began his study in acoustics for which he is known. His study of transient flow in natural gas pipelines led to the publication of a textbook which is still used as a standard reference.

In the 1970s Holliday began testing a revolutionary technique for the detection and size measurement of zooplankton in thin layers involving multi-frequency backscattering. The technique developed and after twenty years became the established framework for research in the field.

In the early 1980s Holliday built the first prototype of the Tracor Acoustical Profiling System which has been described as decades ahead of its time by the Acoustical Society of America. TAPS is now the standard instrument for acoustical profiling of plankton in the sea.