[2] After the Academy, Singleton elected to study electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and graduated in 1940, receiving both bachelor's (Sc.B.)
After graduating from MIT in 1940 and unable to meet the physical requirements for military service, Singleton took a Civil Service position as an electrical engineer at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory, then located at the Navy Yard, Washington, D.C. Singleton was involved in analyzing a process that was eventually called “degaussing,” which gives protection to cargo ships from German-laid magnetic naval mines by reducing the magnetic field surrounding a vessel's steel hull.
As the Allies prepared for re-conquering Europe, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS – forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency) had a great demand for personnel with scientific capabilities.
For his dissertation, Singleton generalized Wiesner's technique for the nonlinear situation, making a major contribution to the emerging field of information theory.
[3] While pursuing his doctorate, Singleton's efforts were sponsored under a U.S. Army Signal Corps contract at the MIT Research Laboratory for Electronics.
At Hughes, Singleton entered the emerging fields of digital and semiconductor electronics, applying these technologies in the development of the fire control system for the F-102 aircraft.
In 1952, Singleton took his expertise to North American Aviation's Los Angeles Division to work on an inertial navigation system for the Navaho missile.
Genesis of the Litton Inertial Navigation System With Singleton serving as the chief salesman, the first adoption of the LN-3 was by the West German Air Force in 1959.
[7] In June 1960, Singleton and George M. Kozmetsky, a colleague from Litton, formed Instrument Systems, located in Beverly Hills, California.
Arthur Rock, one of America's first and most successful venture capitalists, financed the startup with a $450,000 investment and remained a board director for 33 years.
With a Doctor of Commercial Science degree from Harvard and ten years experience in industry, Kozmetsky complemented Singleton for developing a successful enterprise.
In October, they acquired the majority of stock in Amelco, a small electronics manufacturing plant, and within a short time bought rights to the name Teledyne and its associated logo.
Teck A. Wilson, who had followed Singleton from Litton, was primarily responsible for diversifying the business base into government contracts, winning work for avionic systems in missile and space programs.
Called Integrated Helicopter Avionics System (IHAS), this program had been sought by IBM and Texas Instruments, and the win gave Teledyne a name in the military market.
With this merger, Singleton turned his position of President over to George A. Roberts, his close friend from Naval Academy days and who had headed Vasco.
Roberts, who held a Ph.D. degree in metallurgy, had built Vasco into a mid-sized specialty steel producer headquartered in Pennsylvania.
Earlier noted for building Charles Lindberg's Spirit of St. Louis in the 1920s, Ryan was now the largest producer of unmanned drones for the military.
Continental Motors was primarily owned by Ryan, and this acquisition brought Teledyne into the piston-powered engine business with both commercial and military customers.
A number of these were in consumer products, such as AquaTek with Water Pik and Shower Massage, Acoustic Research with revolutionary new types of speakers, and Olson Electronics that operated retail stores across America.
Singleton also added a diverse group of financial institutions, giving Teledyne contact and intimacy with the capital world.
Thrift and loan banks were added by acquisition to units dealing with property, workers compensation, casualty and life insurance.
[16] At the annual meeting in April 1986, Singleton, who was then 69 years old, announced that he was turning the position of CEO over to Roberts, but was remaining as Board Chairman.
Now managed by his children, Singleton Ranches own 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) in New Mexico and California, and is one of the nation's top cattle- and horse-breeding operations.
In its two issues, Nepenthe included work by A. Merritt, Donald A. Wollheim, Stanley G. Weinbaum, Robert A. W. Lowndes, John Christopher, Wilson Tucker, Russ Chauvenet, John B. Michel and Harry Warner, Jr. Singleton had met the former Caroline Wood of Cambridge, Massachusetts, while he was first attending MIT, and they married in 1942.
The first, designed by architect Richard Neutra in 1959, was the well known mid-century modern 'Singleton House' in the Los Angeles Bel Air area.
[22] The second house was designed by architect Wallace Neff in 1973; it was a large residence of French-Norman style in the Holmby Hills district of Los Angeles.
[27] For recreation, Singleton played tournament chess, collected wine, and hiked and camped in the wilderness areas of California.
[citation needed] At 83 years of age, Henry Singleton, died of brain cancer on August 31, 1999, at his West Los Angeles home.
[31] His citation for membership in the National Academy of Engineering in 1979 read: “For his contributions to lightweight inertial navigation systems and his leadership in the creation of a major technological corporation.” While an undergraduate student at MIT, he was named a Putnam Fellow after his three-man team won the William Lowell Putnam Intercollegiate Mathematics Competition in 1939.
Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest men in the world, is quoted as saying that “Henry Singleton of Teledyne has the best operating and capital deployment record in American business"[32]