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Hansen's father was a hardware store owner in Fresno, California and encouraged his son's early talent in mathematics and enthusiasm for electronics. Entering Stanford University at the age of 16, he received his doctorate in 1933.

He went on to become interested in the problem of accelerating electrons for X-ray experiments, using oscillating fields, rather than large static voltages. At the University of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley (also known as Cal Berkeley UCB or UC Berkeley is a public, coeducational university situated in the foothills of Berkeley, California to the east of San Francisco Bay, overlooking the Golden Gate and its bridge., Ernest LawrenceErnest Orlando Lawrence ( August 8, 1901 August 27, 1958) was an American physicist and Nobel laureate best known for his invention of the cyclotron. Born in Canton, South Dakota, Lawrence attended St. Olaf College in Minnesota, but transferred to the Uni and David H. Sloan had worked on an accelerator driven by a resonantThis article is about resonance in physics. For other uses, see Resonance (disambiguation). In physics, resonance is an increase in the oscillatory energy absorbed by a system when the frequency of the oscillations matches the system's natural frequency o coil. Hansen proposed replacing the coil with a cavity resonatorA cavity resonator uses resonance to amplify a wave. The cavity has interior surfaces which reflect one type of wave. When a wave that is resonant with the cavity enters, it bounces back and forth within the cavity, with low loss (See standing wave).. However, in 1937Events January January 1 Anastasio Somoza becomes President of Nicaragua January 11 The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale in the United States. January 19 Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours,, the brothers Russel and Sigurd F. Varian came to Stanford to work on the foundations of what was to become radarThis article is about the device. For the fictional character in M A S H see Corporal Walter (Radar) O'Reilly. antenna (approximately 40m (130ft) in diameter) rotates on a track to observe activities near the horizon. Radar is an acronym for ra dio d etec. Hansen exploited some of the Varians' work to develop the klystronA klystron is a specialized vacuum tube (evacuated electron tube) called a linear-beam tube. Klystrons are used as an oscillator or amplifier at microwave and radio frequencies to produce both low power reference signals for superheterodyne radar receiver and during the years 1937Events January January 1 Anastasio Somoza becomes President of Nicaragua January 11 The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale in the United States. January 19 Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, to 1940, along with collaborators such as John R. Woodyard , founded the field of microwave electronics.

In 1941, he moved his team to the Sperry Gyroscope Company where they spent the war years employing their expertise in radar applications and in other problems.

Returning to Stanford in 1945 as a full professor, he embarked on the construction of a series of linear accelerators based on klystron technology and of GeV performance. Sadly, he was never to see the completion of the project, having been exhausted by his extreme wartime schedule, he died in Palo Alto, California. His wife Betsy, the daughter of P. A. Ross , committed suicide a few months later.

The Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory at Stanford was named for him.