Portrait of Evan A. Hardy, Department of Engineering, 1917-1953.

Bio/Historical Note: Evan Alan Hardy was born in Sioux City, Iowa, on 1 Oct. 1890. He spent his formative years and completed his early education in Sioux City before enrolling in agricultural engineering at Iowa State College. In 1917 he earned a B.Sc. and accepted a teaching position at the University of Saskatchewan. He returned to Iowa to continue his studies but was back in Saskatoon by 1922 with his MSc. From 1926 to 1951 Hardy was head of the department of Agricultural Engineering. During his career at the U of S, Hardy advocated the growth of mechanized farming and designed many implements for use on the prairies. While on leave in 1951, he went to work for the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization in northern Ceylon [Sri Lanka]. He took early retirement from the university and 1952, and remained in Ceylon. In 1956 he moved to Amparai where he founded the Technical Training Institute, now known as the Hardy Institute of Technical Training. He remained there until his death on 4 Dec. 1963. Hardy received an LL.D. from the University of Saskatchewan in 1957; a Saskatoon school was named Evan Hardy Collegiate in 1963; and in 1964 of the Hardy Laboratory for Agricultural Engineering was posthumously dedicated in his honour.