John Milton Miller (June 22, 1882 – May 17, 1962) was a noted American electrical engineer, best known for discovering the

Miller effect In electronics, the Miller effect accounts for the increase in the equivalent input capacitance of an inverting voltage amplifier due to amplification of the effect of capacitance between the input and output terminals. The virtually increased inpu ...

and inventing fundamental circuits for

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...

crystal oscillator A crystal oscillator is an electronic oscillator circuit that uses a piezoelectric crystal as a frequency-selective element. The oscillator frequency is often used to keep track of time, as in quartz wristwatches, to provide a stable clock ...

s ( Miller oscillators).

Formative years and family

Miller was born in

Hanover, Pennsylvania Hanover is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania, southwest of York and north-northwest of Baltimore, Maryland and is north of the Mason-Dixon line. The town is situated in a productive agricultural region. The population was 16,429 at the ...

on June 22, 1882. In 1904, he graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. He then obtained his M.A. there in 1907, followed by his Ph.D. in

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

in 1915. He married Frances Riley; the couple had seven children — two girls and five boys.

Career

From 1907 to 1919, Miller was employed as a physicist with the

National Bureau of Standards The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...

; he then worked as a radio engineer at the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

's Radio Laboratory in Anacostia, District of Columbia from 1919 to 1923, and subsequently at the

Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. It was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, applied research, technological ...

(NRL). From 1925 to 1936, he led radio receiver research at the

Atwater Kent Arthur Atwater Kent Sr. (December 3, 1873 – March 4, 1949) was an American inventor and prominent radio manufacturer based in Philadelphia. In 1921, he patented the modern form of the automobile ignition coil. Biography Arthur Kent was born ...

Manufacturing Company, Philadelphia. From 1936 to 1940, he was the assistant head of the research laboratory for the RCA Radiotron Company. In 1940, he returned to NRL where he became superintendent of Radio I Division (1945), associate director of research (1951), and scientific research administrator (1952).

Honors

Miller was awarded the Distinguished Civilian Service Award in 1945 for "initiation of the development of a new flexible radio-frequency cable urgently needed in radio and radar equipment which solved a desperate material shortage in the United States during World War II," and the

IRE 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 contributio ...

in 1953 for "his pioneering contributions to our basic knowledge of electron tube theory, of radio instruments and measurements, and of crystal controlled oscillators."

References

IEEE History Center biography
*John M. Miller
Dependence of the input impedance of a three-electrode vacuum tube upon the load in the plate circuit
Scientific Papers of the Bureau of Standards, 15(351):367-385, 1920. *John M. Miller, "Electrical oscillations in antennas and inductance coils", Proc. IRE, vol. 7, pp. 299–326, June 1919. {{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, John Milton 1882 births 1962 deaths American electronics engineers IEEE Medal of Honor recipients Radio pioneers Yale University alumni People from Hanover, Pennsylvania United States Navy civilians Engineers from Pennsylvania