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An Academy Award was probably the furthest thing
from his mind when Richard Hadsell ’66 left his
career path in physics to work on “Ice Age” and other
animated films.
“It’s been great fun watching what the artists do,”
says Hadsell, “I only work on the software that they
use to make the final pictures, but it’s a hoot to see
my name in the credits.”
Hadsell is a software
designer for Blue Sky
Studios, which won an
Oscar for its animated
short, “Bunny,” and has
produced its first featurelength
film, the popular “Ice
Age.” Hadsell provides
animators with tools to
create the visually stunning
images you see on the
screen.
His journey from Mount
Vernon to the big screen
was a circuitous one. After
studying physics at Cornell,
Hadsell completed a PhD in
physics at Yale. He decided his calling was in computer
software for experimental physics and moved his
family to a nuclear physics research lab in West
Germany. He later moved on to IBM’s Research
Division before finding Blue Sky right in his back yard
in Westchester County, N.Y.
He credits Cornell with the foundations of his long
career in computer science.
“Cornell gave me an excellent, well-rounded liberal
arts education with an easygoing social atmosphere,”
says Hadsell. “Dr. Dam and Dr. Graber were both
dedicated teachers.”
Hadsell has two grown children, David and Sara, and
two adopted children, Lili Quan and Rose Helen, and
has been married to his wife, Les, for 20 years. |
