Sidney Darlington (July 18, 1906 – October 31, 1997) was an American electrical engineer and inventor of a transistor configuration in 1953, the

Darlington pair In electronics, a multi-transistor configuration called the Darlington configuration (commonly called a Darlington pair) is a circuit consisting of two bipolar transistors with the emitter of one transistor connected to the base of the other, su ...

. He advanced the state of

network theory Network theory is the study of graphs as a representation of either symmetric relations or asymmetric relations between discrete objects. In computer science and network science, network theory is a part of graph theory: a network can be de ...

, developing the insertion-loss synthesis approach, and invented chirp radar, bombsights, and gun and rocket

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. Darlington was awarded a B.S. in physics, magna cum laude, from Harvard in 1928, where he was elected to

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

. He also received a B.S. in E.E. from MIT in 1929, and a Ph.D. in physics from Columbia in 1940. In 1945, he was awarded the

Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merit ...

, the United States' highest civilian honor, for his contributions during World War II. He was an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, which cited his contributions to electrical network theory, radar, and guidance systems. In 1975, he received

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operati ...

's Edison Medal "For basic contributions to network theory and for important inventions in radar systems and electronic circuits" and the

IEEE Medal of Honor The IEEE Medal of Honor is the highest recognition of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It has been awarded since 1917, when its first recipient was Major Edwin H. Armstrong. It is given for an exceptional contributi ...

in 1981 "For fundamental contributions to filtering and signal processing leading to chirp radar". He died at his home in

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, USA, at the age of 91.

Patents

* — Wave Transmission Network * — Semiconductor signal translating devices.(ed., "Darlington Transistor") * — Bombsight Computer * — Tracking Device * — Fire Control Computer * — Pulse Transmission(Chirp) * — Rocket Guidance * — Two-Port Network Synthesis * — Chirp Pulse Equalizer

References

External links

IEEE Biography

Darlington’s Contributions to Transistor Circuit DesignIrwin W. Sandberg and Ernest S. Kuh, "Sidney Darlington", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2004)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darlington, Sidney 1906 births 1997 deaths IEEE Medal of Honor recipients IEEE Edison Medal recipients American electrical engineers Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Scientists at Bell Labs People associated with radar Scientists from Pittsburgh Engineers from Pennsylvania 20th-century American engineers MIT School of Engineering alumni Columbia University alumni Harvard University alumni