1. Victor WoukThe Father of the Hybrid Car By Sean Callery Presentation by Kyra Orem

2. Birth/Early Life He was born in the Bronx, New York City on April 27, 1919 His Jewish immigrant family was poor but later made money in a successful laundry business Victor was the youngest of the family; his brother Herman became a famous writer

3. Education Victor went to Townsend Harris High School in Manhattan; Victor was very good at Science and Math and was a member of the Science Club. He followed his brother to Columbia University, one of the best schools in the U.S. for scientific study; he majored in Electrical Engineering. For graduate school, he moved to Pasadena, California to study at the California Institute of Technology, or Caltech, where they were doing great scientific research. There he got his PhD.

4. Adult Life/ Career In 1939, Victor married Joy Lattman. Even on their honeymoon, Victor began doing research on static electric charges from cars. In 1941, he was hired by Westinghouse in Pittsburgh. There, he was involved in research in the Manhattan Project, a secret project that resulted in the development of the atomic bomb. Eventually, this led to the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which ended World War II.

5. continued After the war, Wouk went into business and started several corporations. He and Joy also had two sons during this time, Jonathan and Jordan. In 1962, he was approached by Russell Feldman from Motorola, on his project of an electric car. Wouk didn’t think electric cars were the answer. He believed that by combining electricity and gasoline, he could save fuel and cut emissions without losing performance: the hybrid car!

6. Accomplishments •In 1974, Wouk presented his hybrid model of a Buick Skylark to the EPA. It ran very well in the test but was rejected. • He continued to work as a consultant and campaigned for the use of electric or hybrid cars.

7. Impact on the World Victor Wouk is considered the Father of the Hybrid Car. His dream became reality in 1997, when Toyota launched the Prius, the first mass produced hybrid gas-electric car.