{{Distinguish|Rickard Söderberg}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Carl Richard Söderberg | image = CarlRSoderberg.PNG | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1895|2|3}} | birth_place = Ulvöhamn, Sweden | death_date = {{Death date and age|1979|10|17|1895|2|3}} | death_place = Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States | citizenship = American, Swedish | nationality = | field = Engineering | work_institution = MIT | alma_mater = Chalmers University of Technology<br />MIT | doctoral_advisor = | doctoral_students = | known_for = power engineering | author_abbreviation_bot = | author_abbreviation_zoo = | prizes = | religion = | footnotes = }}
'''Carl Richard '''"'''Dick'''"''' Söderberg''' (February 3, 1895{{spaced ndash}}October 17, 1979) was a power engineer and Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.<ref name="nae">{{cite book|chapter=Carl Richard Soderberg 1895–1979|title=Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering|volume=2|publisher=National Academies Press|pages=267–271 |first=Ascher H.|last=Shapiro|year=1984 |doi=10.17226/565 |isbn=978-0-309-03482-1|url=https://www.nae.edu/19579/19581/51314/51353/215812/CARL-RICHARD-SODERBERG-18951979}}</ref><ref name="nyt">{{cite web|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/19/archives/c-richard-soderberg-turbine-engine-pioneer.html|title= Soderberg — Professor C. Richard |website= The New York Times . section A | page=22|date= October 19, 1979 |access-date=October 1, 2020}}</ref>
== Background == Söderberg was born in the fishing village of Ulvöhamn in present Örnsköldsvik Municipality, Västernorrland County, Sweden. He enrolled at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. In 1919 he graduated with a degree in naval architecture. On a fellowship from The American-Scandinavian Foundation, he came to MIT, where he was awarded the degree of Bachelor of Science in June 1920.<ref name="nae" />
== Career == In 1922, Söderberg started at the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. In 1928, he accepted an offer from ASEA to return to Sweden and head the development of a new line of large turbogenerators. In 1930, he returned to Westinghouse, where he was assigned to the Power Engineering Department.<ref name="nae"/>
In 1938, Söderberg was offered a faculty appointment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. In 1954, he was appointed dean of the School of Engineering. He resigned as dean in 1959 and was appointed to the position of Institute Professor. Söderberg had a total of eighteen U.S. patents issued in the years from 1935 to 1950, all relating to constructional features of turbines.<ref name="nae" /><ref>{{cite web|url = https://libraries.mit.edu/mithistory/research/schools-and-departments/school-of-engineering/department-of-mechanical-engineering/ |title=Heads of the course and Department of Mechanical Engineering C. Richard Soderberg|website= Department of Distinctive Collections, MIT Libraries|access-date=October 1, 2020}}</ref>
Söderberg was a member of many professional societies. He was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1947 and to the National Academy of Engineering in 1974 for “leadership in turbine design and innovation in engineering education.”<ref>{{cite web |title=Professor C. Richard Soderberg |url=https://www.nae.edu/30671/Professor-C-Richard-Soderberg |website=National Academy of Engineering |access-date=12 April 2026 }}</ref> He was also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. In 1958 he was made a knight of the Order of the Polar Star by the King of Sweden and in 1968 a commander of the Royal Order of the North Star.<ref name="nae" />
On the occasion of Söderberg's eightieth birthday in 1975, MIT announced the establishment of the Carl Richard Soderberg Professorship of Power Engineering.<ref name="nae" />
Söderberg died of cancer on October 17, 1979.<ref name="nyt"/>
== Selected works == * ''The Mechanical Engineering Department'' (Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1947) * ''My Life'' (Public Relations Group. 1979)
== References == {{reflist}}
== Other sources == * Benson, Adolph B. and Naboth Hedin, eds. (1938) ''Swedes in America, 1638–1938'' (The Swedish American Tercentenary Association. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press) {{ISBN|978-0-8383-0326-9}} * Carl Richard Söderberg, ''Stephen P. Timoshenko'' (National Research Council. Biographical Memoirs V.53. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 1982.) {{ISBN|978-0-309-03287-2}}
{{Authority control}} {{ASME Medal|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Söderberg, Carl R.}} Category:1895 births Category:1979 deaths Category:People from Örnsköldsvik Municipality Category:Swedish emigrants to the United States Category:20th-century American educators Category:20th-century American engineers Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Category:Chalmers University of Technology alumni Category:MIT School of Engineering faculty Category:Order of the Polar Star Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:ASME Medal recipients