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John Roy Whinnery | |
|---|---|
 John Whinnery was dean of Berkeley from 1959 to 1963 | |
| Born | (1916-07-26)July 26, 1916 Read, Colorado, U.S. |
| Died | February 1, 2009(2009-02-01) (aged 92) Walnut Creek, California, U.S. |
| Awards | IEEE Medal of Honor(1985) National Medal of Science(1992) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Electrical engineering |
| Doctoral students | Chenming Hu Moty Heiblum |
John Roy Whinnery (July 26, 1916 – February 1, 2009) was an American electrical engineer and educator who worked in the fields of microwave theory and laser experimentation.
Whinnery received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from theUniversity of California, Berkeley, in 1937, and thePh.D. from the same institution in 1948. ThroughoutWorld War II, he was active in war training classes, held a part-time lectureship at Union College(1945–46), and earned his doctoral degree while working 6 days a week in microwaves atGeneral Electric, Schenectady, New York, working on problems in waveguide discontinuities, microwave tubes, and applications to radar. He continued his career working on He-Ne laser modulation, the transmission of laser light for optical communication and photo thermal effects. His research evolved to include quantum electronics and opto-electronics as well.[1]
Whinnery was on the faculty of theUniversity of California, Berkeley, beginning in 1946, holding appointment as lecturer, associate professor, and professor. From 1952 to 1956, he directed the Electronics Research Laboratory; from 1956 to 1959, he was chairman of the Electric Engineering Department; from 1959 to 1963, he was dean of the College of Engineering at Berkeley. During Whinnery's terms, many of the most successful young faculty were hired to the College of Engineering, Berkeley, specifically in Electrical Engineering, contributing significantly to Berkeley's reputation as one of the premier colleges of engineering in the world today.
John Whinnery was a Fellow of theIEEE and of the Optical Society of America, a member of theNational Academy of Engineering, theNational Academy of Sciences, and theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received the IEEE Education Medal and Microwave Career Award of the IEEE, as well as the Lamme Medal of the American Society for Engineering Education. In 1980 he was appointed University Professor at theUniversity of California. On leave from the University, he acted as head of the Microwave Tube Research Section of theHughes Aircraft Company (1951–52), engaged in research in quantum electronics at theBell Laboratories, Inc., Murray Hill, New Jersey (1963–64) and held Visiting Professorship at the University of California, Santa Cruz and Stanford University. In 1959 he held a Guggenheim Fellowship at theETH Zurich, Switzerland. In 1985 he was awarded theIEEE Medal of Honor "For seminal contributions to the understanding and application of electromagnetic fields and waves to microwave, laser, and optical devices" and in 1992 he received theNational Medal of Science.
He also served on the board of trustees of Science Service, now known asSociety for Science & the Public, from 1967 to 1971.
