William Alden Edson: Difference between revisions
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He resigned that position to become an assistant professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology. |
He resigned that position to become an assistant professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology. |
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In [1942?] he returned to Bell Labs, recruited by Fred Terman, to become a staff member at its |
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Radio Research Lab (RRL), a critical part of the U.S. government’s counter-intelligence effort during World War II. |
Radio Research Lab (RRL), a critical part of the U.S. government’s counter-intelligence effort during World War II. |
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From [date] to 1952, Dr. Edson was |
From [date] to 1952, Dr. Edson was a professor of Electrical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. In July of 1952, he was named the Director of the school of Electrical Engineering. |
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He was recruited by Fred Terman once more to |
He was recruited by Fred Terman once more to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, the area now widely known as Silicon Valley. Dr. Edson joined the faculty as Acting Professor, Electrical Engineering and was on the staff of Stanford Electronics Research Laboratory. |
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Chairman, Subpanel on Frequency Control of Research and Development Board, Consultant, United States Bureau of Standards. . .. research, microwave tubes, microwave circuits. . .. vacuum tube oscillators. |
Chairman, Subpanel on Frequency Control of Research and Development Board, Consultant, United States Bureau of Standards. . .. research, microwave tubes, microwave circuits. . .. vacuum tube oscillators. |
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Revision as of 02:47, 25 January 2010
William Alden Edson (1912 - ) is a scientist and engineer who has specialized in vacuum tube oscillators, radar, antennas and microwave technologies. He began his career as an educator at Illinois Institute of Technology and later was a professor at Georgia Institute of Technology and Stanford University. He was a researcher at Bell Laboratories and he worked in the commercial sector at General Electric and other companies. He spent 35 years at the Stanford Research International (SRI). His books, articles and patents have advanced technology in computers and defense, radar detection and communications. His works have been widely cited in scientific literature and patent references.
Birth and Early Life
He was born in Burchard, Nebraska to an educated farming family. His father had attended University of Kansas, but did not earn a degree. Most of his childhood was spent in Olathe, Kansas, where his father, William Henry Edson, owned a modest farm. His mother, Pearl (Montgomery) Edson was the librarian at the Carnegie library in Olathe.
Education
Edson attended the University of Kansas, where his father had also studied. There he earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering. He then entered Harvard University as a Gordon McKay scholar. The Gordon McKay endowment to Harvard was established upon the death of the entrepreneur in 1893 and was intended "to promote applied science..." by "aiding meritorious and needy students in pursuing those subjects..." Edson gained his D. Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Harvard University in 1937 at the age of 25.
Affiliations and Honors
While teaching at Georgia Tech, he was Chairman of the Atlanta section of the IEEE in 1948-49. During that time, he was a licensed engineer in the State of Georgia. He also chaired the Committee on Standards of Piezoelectricity, and was chairman of the Subpanel on Frequency Research and Depelopment Board.
He was also a consultant to the United States Bureau of Standards.
In 1957 he was named a Life Fellow by IEEE for "contributions in the fields of education and microwave electronics".
He was a longtime member of the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) and an active participant in the Western Electronics Show and Convention (WESCON), American Physical Society, American Association for Advancement of Science, American Society for Engineering Education, and the National Society for Professional Engineers.
Research and Employment
After earning his doctorate, he joined Bell Laboratories in New York City as a member of the technical staff.
He resigned that position to become an assistant professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
In [1942?] he returned to Bell Labs, recruited by Fred Terman, to become a staff member at its Radio Research Lab (RRL), a critical part of the U.S. government’s counter-intelligence effort during World War II.
From [date] to 1952, Dr. Edson was a professor of Electrical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. In July of 1952, he was named the Director of the school of Electrical Engineering.
He was recruited by Fred Terman once more to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, the area now widely known as Silicon Valley. Dr. Edson joined the faculty as Acting Professor, Electrical Engineering and was on the staff of Stanford Electronics Research Laboratory.
Chairman, Subpanel on Frequency Control of Research and Development Board, Consultant, United States Bureau of Standards. . .. research, microwave tubes, microwave circuits. . .. vacuum tube oscillators.
In 1956, Dr. Edson was working for General Electric in Palo Alto, CA. Among other work, there he co-authored a proposal called ERMA (ELECTRONIC RECORDING MACHINE, ACCOUNTING), which proposed the commercialization of a research project, starting with installation for Bank of America, but intended to be sold to other banking entities.
In [year (before 1964)], he co-founded Eletromagnetic Technologies Co. (EmTech), a firm which did much of its business with the U.S. Department of Defense. EMTECH was later acquired by a Pennsylvania company.
In 1964, he was invited to speak at the Goddard Electronics Colloquia Series in Greenbelt, Maryland. On November 25th his topic was "The Design of Oscillators and Concept of Frequency Stability.” The Colloquia series was designed for "keeping our electrical engineers abreast of the latest developments in their field by exposing them to recognized leaders in the electronics profession from throughout the country."
Dr. Edson joined the staff of the prestigious Stanford Research International (SRI) in Menlo Park, CA. He worked there for 35 years, until his retirement in 1986.
Publications
"A theoretical and experimental investigation of (he frequency stability of vacuum tube oscillators." PhD dissertation. Cambridge, MA: Graduate School of Engineering, Harvard University, 1937.
Passive Space Communication Array, (FEB 1976)
High frequency crystal-controlled oscillator circuits ... [et al].
The keying properties of quartz crystal oscillators
Hyper and ultrahigh frequency engineering (1944), with Robert Irving Sarbacher, J. Wiley & sons, inc. : Chapman & Hall,, New York.
Vacuum-tube oscillators (1953) Wiley, New York.
Southwest PAVE PAWS Radar System. Environmental Assessment, (1983), with Sidney J. Everett; Louis N. Heynick; Steven R. Pierce; Richard A. Shepherd; (SRI INTERNATIONAL MENLO PARK CA)
Noise in Oscillators, (August 1960) General Electric Microwave Lab., Palo Alto, Calif.; Proceedings of the IRE Volume: 48, Issue: 8 On page(s): 1454-1466 ISSN: 0096-8390 Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/JRPROC.1960.287573 Current Version Published: 2007-01-22
Tapered Distributed RC Lines for Phase-Shift Oscillators, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 49, Issue 6, June 1961 Page(s):1021 - 1024
FREQUENCY CONVERTER UNITS FOR L-BAND, S-BAND, C-BAND, AND X-BAND. 15 DEC 1964 Authors: William A. Edson; Lyle C. Bacon; Peter Georgiev; ELECTROMAGNETIC TECHNOLOGY CORP PALO ALTO CALIF The L- and S-band double-balanced converters are being manufactured. The C-band double-balanced converter was improved regarding Ka-band signal leakage into the C-band port; more work is being done in this respect. Average conversion loss is about 12 db. The X-band double-balanced converter was improved regarding X-band matching which presently meets the VSWR specification in the frequency band from 7 to 10.1 Gc but does not meet specifications in the frequency ...
Patents
July 3 1945: 2,379,694, "Stabilized Oscillator"
December 10, 1946, With (brother) James O. Edson and John B. Maggio, 2,412,210, "Cathode Ray Sweep Circuit"
May 31, 1949, with Walter Kannenberg, #2,471,419, "Tunable resonant cavity with adjustable walls"
[more to come]
References
H.R. Oldfield, "General Electric Enters the Computer Business-Revisited," IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 46-55, Dec. 1995, doi:10.1109/85.477435
C. Stewart Gillmor, Fred Terman at Stanford: building a discipline, a university, and Silicon Valley (p. 205)
This Week's Citation Classic, (June, 27 1983) Proceedings of the IRE, Proc. IRE 48:1454-66, 1960. [General Electric Microwave Lab., Palo Alto, CA)