Arthur C. Ruge; Engineer Invented ‘Strain Gauge’
Arthur C. Ruge, 94, the inventor of the “strain gauge,” which revolutionized the way things are weighed and tested for stress. Born in Tomah, Wis., Ruge graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1925. After working as a structural steel engineer for several years, he earned a master’s degree in civil engineering and a doctorate in engineering seismology at MIT, where he later taught. In 1938, while investigating the effects of earthquakes on water towers, he invented the strain gauge.Today, virtually all commercial scales employ the device. The gauge was also used by the Allies in World War II in designing aircraft and gun barrels. In 1947, Ruge resigned his post at MIT to start Ruge-de Forest Inc., the first company to make strain gauges. He sold the company eight years later and started another firm to make temperature gauges. On Monday at his home in Lexington, Mass.
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