Frederick Terman | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Frederick Emmons Terman (1900-06-07)June 7, 1900 English, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | December 19, 1982(1982-12-19) (aged 82) Palo Alto, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Stanford University (BS,MS) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (DSc) |
| Awards | IEEE Medal of Honor(1950) IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr. Education Medal(1956) IEEE Founders Medal(1963) National Medal of Science(1975) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Electrical engineering |
| Institutions | Stanford University Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Doctoral advisor | Vannevar Bush |
| Notable students | Bill Hewlett Bernard M. Oliver David Packard Wen-Yuan Pan Russell and Sigurd Varian Oswald Garrison Villard Jr. Paul W. Klipsch |
Frederick Emmons Terman (/ˈtɜːrmən/; June 7, 1900 – December 19, 1982) was an Americanprofessor andacademic administrator. He was the dean of theschool of engineering from 1944 to 1958 and provost from 1955 to 1965 atStanford University.[1] He is widely credited (together withWilliam Shockley) as being the father ofSilicon Valley.[2]
In 1951 he spearheaded the creation of Stanford Industrial Park (nowStanford Research Park), whereby the university leased portions of its land to high-tech firms. Companies such asVarian Associates,Hewlett-Packard,Eastman Kodak,General Electric, andLockheed Corporation moved into Stanford Industrial Park and made the mid-Peninsula area into a hotbed of innovation which eventually became known as Silicon Valley.
Terman was born toLewis Terman and Anna Belle Minton Terman on June 7, 1900, in Indiana, U.S.[3] His father,Lewis Terman, was aeugenicist, a psychologist who studied gifted children and popularized theIQ test inAmerica, and a professor atStanford University. His mother attendedCentral Normal College and taught English at a school nearby. In 1895 she met Lewis Terman at the school; the relationship developed over the following years, culminating in marriage on Sept. 15, 1899. They then followed Lewis' education atIndiana University andClark University.[4]
At the age of 10, Terman arrived at Stanford when his father joined the psychology faculty. As a boy, his favorite hobby was ham radio.[5]
Terman completed his undergraduate degree inchemistry and his master's degree inelectrical engineering atStanford University.[6] He went on to earn anScD in electrical engineering fromMassachusetts Institute of Technology in 1924 where his advisor wasVannevar Bush, who first proposed what became theNational Science Foundation.[7]
Terman returned to Stanford in 1925 as a member of the engineering faculty.[7] From 1925 to 1941 Terman designed a course of study and research in electronics at Stanford that focused on work withvacuum tubes, circuits (electrical network), andinstrumentation.[4] Terman received tenure at Stanford by having the administration match his tenure offer atCornell University. He hiredCharles Litton andKarl Spangenberg, a student ofWilliam Littell Everitt. Together they established a vacuum tube laboratory.[8] He also wroteRadio Engineering (first edition in 1932; second edition, much improved, in 1937; third edition in 1947 with added coverage of new technologies developed during World War II; fourth edition in 1955 with a new title,Electronic and Radio Engineering), one of the most important books on electrical and radio engineering, and to this day a good reference on those subjects. Terman's students at Stanford includedOswald Garrison Villard, Jr.,Russell and Sigurd Varian,William Hewlett, andDavid Packard.[9] He encouraged his students to form their own companies and personally invested in many of them, resulting in firms such asLitton Industries,Varian Associates, andHewlett-Packard.[10] Terman was president of theInstitute of Radio Engineers in 1941.[11]
During World War II, Terman directed a staff of more than 850 at theRadio Research Laboratory atHarvard University. This organization was the source ofAlliedjammers to block enemyradar, tunable receivers to detect radar signals, and aluminum strips ("chaff, window") to produce spurious reflections on enemy radar receivers. Thesecountermeasures significantly reduced the effectiveness of radar-directedanti-aircraft fire.
After the war, Terman returned to Stanford and was appointeddean of the School of Engineering. In 1945 he was influential in the creation of a microwave research laboratory at the Stanford School of Physical Sciences.[12] In 1951 he spearheaded the creation of Stanford Industrial Park (nowStanford Research Park), whereby the university leased portions of its land to high-tech firms.[13] Companies such asVarian Associates,Hewlett-Packard,Eastman Kodak,General Electric, andLockheed Corporation moved into Stanford Industrial Park and made the mid-Peninsula area into a hotbed of innovation which eventually became known asSilicon Valley.[14]
He served asprovost at Stanford from 1955 to 1965.[15] During his tenure, Terman greatly expanded the science, statistics and engineering departments in order to win more research grants from theDepartment of Defense. These grants, in addition to the funds that the patented research generated, helped to catapult Stanford into the ranks of the world's first class educational institutions, as well as spurring the growth ofSilicon Valley. Terman's efforts to create a mutual relationship between Stanford and the tech companies in the surrounding area also significantly contributed to this growth.[16]Speaking of this effort, Terman said
When we set out to create a community of technical scholars inSilicon Valley, there wasn't much here and the rest of the world looked awfully big. Now a lot of the rest of the world is here.
— Frederick Terman[2]
In 1964, Terman became afounding member of theNational Academy of Engineering.[17] In 1966 Terman played a central role in helping thePark Chung Hee Administration establish the Korea Advanced Institute of Science, which later becameKAIST.[18] Terman Hall at KAIST was named in his honor in 2004.[19]
