Donald Glen Fink (November 8, 1911 – May 3, 1996) was an Americanelectrical engineer, a pioneer in the development ofradio navigation systems andtelevision standards, vice president for research ofPhilco, president of theInstitute of Radio Engineers, General Manager of theIEEE, and an editor of many important publications in electrical engineering.[1][2][3]
Fink was born on November 8, 1911, inEnglewood, New Jersey. As a high school student, he competed in the National Oratorical Contest on the U.S. constitution, winning first place inBergen County, New Jersey.[4] He attended theMassachusetts Institute of Technology beginning in 1929 and became editor of the undergraduate technical journal there. He graduated in 1933 with a B.Sc. in electrical communications, and spent a year as a research assistant in the MIT departments of geology and electrical engineering.[5] From 1934 to 1941, he worked as an editor for the magazineElectronics. DuringWorld War II, he worked at the MITRadiation Laboratory and traveled overseas installingLORAN sites. After the war, he became editor-in-chief ofElectronics (1946–1952). He joinedPhilco in 1952, and in 1960 became vice president for research there; in 1962, after the merger of Philco andFord, he became director of the Philco-Ford Scientific Laboratories.[1][2][5]
Fink was long associated with theInstitute of Radio Engineers and its successor organization, theIEEE. He was editor-in-chief ofProceedings of the IRE (1956–1957), member of the IRE board of directors (1949–1951 and 1956–1960), president of the IRE (beginning 1958), general manager and later executive director of IEEE (1963–1974) and, after retiring in 1974, "Director Emeritus for life".[1][6] At the IEEE, he played an important role in guiding the institute through its formative years and in expanding the role of the institute from the technical and scientific study of engineering to an expanded view of engineering that also encompassed its professional and societal aspects.[2] In retirement, he continued to edit two major handbooks published by McGraw-Hill, theStandard Handbook for Electrical Engineers[7] and theElectronics Engineers' Handbook.[1][2] He chaired theUnited Nations Economic and Social Council science programs from 1976 to 1981.[2]
Fink was a pioneer in the development oftelevision;The New York Times writes[3] that his 1940 textbook,Principles of TV Engineering, "became a standard text for people working in television development". He chaired the IRE Television System Committee, and was a member of theNTSC committee in the early 1950s; the 525-line resolution of NTSC television was his proposal.[1][2] He also wrote two more books on television,Television Engineering andPhysics of Television, and editedTelevision Standards and Practice,Color Television Standards, and theTelevision Engineering Handbook.[2]
Fink was honored for his wartime service by theMedal of Freedom (1946) and aPresident's Certificate of Merit (1948).[1][2][8] He became aFellow of the IRE in 1947 "in recognition of his espousal of high standards of technical publishing and for his wartime contributions in the field of electronic aids to navigation"; he was also elected as a fellow of theAmerican Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1951 and of theNational Academy of Engineering in 1969.[2] In 1972, the U.S. Army gave him their Outstanding Civilian Service Medal.[2] He received theIEEE Founders Medal in 1977,[1] and theIEEE Centennial Medal in 1984. TheIEEE Donald G. Fink Prize Paper Award was established in his honor in 1979, and is given annually to "the most outstanding survey, review, or tutorial paper published in the IEEE Transactions, Journals, Magazines, or in the Proceedings of the IEEE between 1 January and 31 December of the preceding year".[9]
