1913-

Electrical engineer who invented the audio oscillator and cofounded the Hewlett-Packard electronics corporation. William Hewlett was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He graduated from Stanford University with a B.A., then completed his master's degree in electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While in graduate school, he developed the design for his audio oscillator. The machine, which generated low-frequency audio signals, was used by scientists, researchers, and even for the sound-track to the Walt Disney film Fantasia. Along with David Packard, whom he met while they were undergraduates at Stanford, Hewlett formed the Hewlett-Packard company in 1938 and marketed the audio oscillator as its first product. Hewlett served as the company's president from 1964 to 1977 and its chief executive officer from 1969 to 1978, after which he served on the board of directors.