HP Innovation Journal Issue 15: Summer 2020 | Page 68

Remember When
1944
PHOTOGRAPH BY CLIFF ATKINS/HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY ARCHIVES
Serving his country. This September marks the 75th anniversary of the end of World
War II. And while it’s impossible to know all the ways HP’s technology positively impacted Allied
efforts, there’s no doubt the war influenced the company’s trajectory. While on military leave
in early 1944, Captain Bill Hewlett surprised workers in Palo Alto with a rousing speech about
the success of HP products being used in the war (audio oscillators, vacuum-tube voltmeters,
and the 205 Audio Signal Generator) and posed for pictures with employees. ¶ One of the
company’s largest government contracts was for a project code-named “Leopard.” HP created
an entire system, from antennas to service controls to the oscillators, that provided electronic
countermeasures for Allied ships. The system interrupted enemy location signals and made
it appear as if our ships were somewhere else, thereby delaying, if not thwarting, the discovery
of their exact location. ¶ Hewlett’s military service and the government contracts HP won
back then fostered not only sales growth but the development of its culture. By war’s end,
Hewlett-Packard boasted a more diverse workforce of 200 employees and $2 million in sales,
while Dave Packard kept his own salary below that of his friend and partner's army pay for the
duration of the war, in honor of Hewlett’s service.
—Andrea Bell-Matthews
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