View source for Chester Thordarson

{{Short description|Icelandic-American inventor}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Chester H. Thordarson
| image              = 
| alt                = 
| caption            = Hjörtur Þórðarson
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1867|05|12}}
| birth_place        = [[History_of_Iceland#Iceland_under_Norwegian_and_Danish_kings_(1262–1944)|Iceland]] ([[Kingdom of Denmark]])
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1945|1|6|1867|5|12|df=yes}}
| death_place        = [[Chicago, Illinois]]
| death_cause        = 
| citizenship        = 
| resting_place      = [[Rock Island, Wisconsin]]
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| education          = dropped out of 7th grade at age 20
| module             = {{Infobox engineering career
                       | discipline           = Electrical engineering
                       | institutions         =
                       | practice_name        =
                       | employer             =
                       | significant_projects = [[Alternating current]],<br />high-voltage, high-frequency power experiments, transformer design, transformer manufacturing
                       | significant_design   = [[Power grid]], [[electrical transformer]]
                       | significant_advance  =
                       | significant_awards   = {{collapsible list | title = }}
                      }}
| signature          = 
| signature_alt      = 
}}

'''Chester Hjortur Thordarson''' (May 12, 1867 &ndash; January 6, 1945) — born '''Hjörtur Þórðarson''' — was an [[Icelandic-American]] [[inventor]]  and manufacturer of electrical apparatus who eventually held nearly a hundred technology [[patent]]s<ref>{{cite web|url= http://washingtonisland-wi.com/chester-thordarson-rock-island/|title= Chester Thordarson & Rock Island |publisher =Washington Island Chamber of Commerce|accessdate= April 25, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://islandheritageconservancy.com/ihc-Thordarson.html
|title= Thordarson |publisher  = Washington Island Heritage Conservancy Corp|accessdate= April 25, 2016}}</ref> related to [[transformer]]s, [[inductors]], [[Electromagnetic coil|high voltage coils]], and more.

==Biography==
Thordarson immigrated to the [[United States]] from [[Iceland]] in 1873 with his parents Gudrun Grimsdotter and Thordur Arnason. In 1887, Thordarson took a job in [[Chicago, Illinois]], working for Chicago Edison Co. In 1895, he founded  the Thordarson Electric Manufacturing Company, a  manufacturing company in Chicago that produced industrial and commercial transformers. Thordarson's company is now called Thordarson Meissner, Inc. and has locations in [[Mount Carmel, Illinois]], and [[Henderson, Nevada]].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://thordarsonmagnetics.com/history.php|title= Celebrating 120 Years Of Global Technology|publisher= Thordarson Meisner Inc|accessdate= April 25, 2016|url-status= dead|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20151205074613/http://www.thordarsonmagnetics.com/history.php|archivedate= December 5, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uwgb.edu/voyageur/archive_22_1_rockisland.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2008-06-10 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608070307/http://www.uwgb.edu/voyageur/archive_22_1_rockisland.pdf |archivedate=2011-06-08 }}</ref>

He was instrumental in the development of the modern energy transmission grid with his work in transformers.  He achieved his first distinction at the [[Louisiana Purchase Exposition|1904 World's Fair]] in St. Louis, where for the [[Purdue University]] exhibit he designed and built the first million-volt transformer. For his efforts he won the fair's gold medal.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.fori.us/chester.htm|title= Chester H. Thordarson  |publisher= Friends of Rock Island State Park|accessdate= April 25, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.pddnet.com/article/2012/03/2011-design-engineer-hall-fame-chester-hjortur-thordarson|title= Chester Hjortur Thordarson |publisher  =  Design Engineer Hall of Fame  |date=   March 8, 2011|accessdate= April 25, 2016}}</ref>

==Legacy==

===Rock Island===

In 1910, Thordarson began purchasing property on [[Rock Island (Wisconsin)|Rock Island]], an island off the tip [[Wisconsin]]'s [[Door Peninsula]].  Thordarson  established a private vacation retreat on Rock Island.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/video/in-wisconsin-rock-island-chester-thordarson-1/ Rock Island: Chester Thordarson], ''In Wisconsin'', Wisconsin PBS, May 5th, 2011, 7:28 video</ref> He was intensely interested in preserving the island’s natural beauty.  In 1965 the state of Wisconsin purchased Rock Island from his heirs. Thordarson's former estate has been designated [[Rock Island State Park (Wisconsin)|Rock Island State Park]]. His buildings, including the [[Water Tower (Rock Island, Wisconsin)|water tower]], were added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] as the [[Thordarson Estate Historic District]] during 1985.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/WI/Door/districts.html|title= Thordarson Estate Historic District  |publisher=National Register of Historic Places|accessdate= April 25, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Thordarson Estate Historic District |url=http://landmarkhunter.com/191024-thordarson-estate-historic-district/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603030020/http://landmarkhunter.com/191024-thordarson-estate-historic-district/ |archive-date=June 3, 2016 |accessdate=April 25, 2016 |publisher=Landmark Hunter}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Sharyn Alden |title=Rock Island park offers raw beauty and a past preserved |url=https://archive.jsonline.com/features/travel/94616079.html |accessdate=September 20, 2023 |publisher=The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel}}</ref>

[[File:Rock Island Boathouse.JPG|thumb|300 px|right|Chester Thordarson's boathouse on Rock Island]]

===Book collection===
Thordarson bequeathed his book collection to the University of Wisconsin. The Thordarson collection was estimated to be worth one million dollars in 1945 (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|1000000|1945}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}}){{Inflation-fn|US}} and led to the establishment of the rare books room of the University of Wisconsin Memorial Library.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/999931225502121|title=   Thordarson Collection |publisher =  Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System|accessdate= April 25, 2016}}</ref><ref>''U.W. Library News'', March 1966</ref> Jen Christian Bay, a member of the [[Bibliographical Society of America]], commented on the collection in 1929:<ref>Ralph Hagedorn, "Bibliotheca Thordarsoniana: The Sequel," in PAPERS of the Bibliographical Society of America, Vo. 44 (Q1, 1950). Dr. Bay's essay later formed a chapter in the Fortune of Books, (Chicago, 1941), 105-121</ref>
*"Of [[William Copland]], ''The Craft of Grafting'' (1560), two copies are known, one in the Thordarson Collection"
*"Of the greatest [herbal] of all, the ''Hortus Sanitatis'', Mr. Thordarson's copy of the edition of 1561 is a remarkably beautiful copy...."
*[Of the 1540 ''A Boke of the Proertyes of Herbes'':] "This book is one of Mr. Thordarson's discoveries;  no copy is known in any other library."
*[Of H. Baker's ''The Wellspring of Sciences'':] "The [[British Museum]] seemingly possesses no copy with an earlier date than 1574.  Mr Thordarson's copy [of 1564] seems unique."

==Awards==
Among his awards and honors, the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison|University of Wisconsin]]  and the [[University of Iceland]]  conferred  honorary doctorate degrees. He was awarded medals from the [[Louisiana Purchase Exposition]] in 1904 and the [[Panama–Pacific International Exposition]] in 1916. King [[Christian X of Denmark]] presented Thordarson with the [[Order of the Falcon]] in 1939.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://washingtonisland-wi.com/|title=   Chester Thordarson's Rock Island  |publisher=  Voyageur|author=    Tim Sweet  |date=  2005  |accessdate= April 25, 2016}}</ref>

==Patents==

{{Empty section|date=August 2016}}

==Death==
Thordarson died of heart failure in [[Chicago, Illinois]] on January 6, 1945.

== See also ==
{{Portalbar|Electronics|Energy|Engineering|Physics|Technology}}
*[[Charles Proteus Steinmetz]] – a contemporaneous electrical pioneer in alternating current and high voltage research
*[[Nikola Tesla]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
*Cartwright, Carol Lohry (1986) "[http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/wmh/id/36176 Rock Island: The Personification of Chester H. Thordarson]". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History'', Vol. 69, No. 3 (Spring, 1986): 211-227.
*Eaton, Conan Bryant (1969) ''Rock Island, a part of the Washington Township'' (Jackson Harbor Press) {{ISBN|1-890352-19-5}}
*Purinton, Richard  (2013) ''Thordarson and Rock Island'' (Island Bayou Press) {{ISBN|978-0-692-02006-7}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071209141951/http://www.thordarsonmagnetics.com/ Thordarson Meissner, Inc. website]
*[http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/parks/name/rockisland/ Rock Island State Park website]
*[http://washingtonisland-wi.com/site-2016/wp-content/uploads/archive_22_1_rockisland.pdf Chester Thordarson's Rock Island] 
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thordarson, Chester}}
[[Category:1867 births]]
[[Category:1945 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Door County, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:American inventors]]
[[Category:Icelandic emigrants to the United States|Chester Thordarson]]
[[Category:American businesspeople in manufacturing]]
[[Category:People associated with electricity]]
[[Category:American electrical engineers]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Chicago]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Falcon]]
[[Category:19th-century American engineers]]
[[Category:20th-century American engineers]]
[[Category:American futurologists]]
[[Category:American humanists]]
[[Category:American mechanical engineers]]
[[Category:Scientists from New York City]]
[[Category:Wireless energy transfer]]
[[Category:Engineers from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Engineers from Illinois]]