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.

Biography

Whinnery received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, in 1937, and the

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from the same institution in 1948. Throughout

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, 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 at

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, 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. Whinnery was on the faculty of the

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, 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 the

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 operat ...

and of the Optical Society of America, a member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...

, the National Academy of Sciences, and the

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. 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 the

. On leave from the University, he acted as head of the Microwave Tube Research Section of the Hughes Aircraft Company (1951–52), engaged in research in quantum electronics at the Bell 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 the ETH Zurich, Switzerland. In 1985 he was awarded the IEEE 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 the National Medal of Science. He also served on the board of trustees of Science Service, now known as Society for Science & the Public, from 1967-1971.

Publications

* "Fields and Waves in Communication Electronics," Simon Ramo, John R. Whinnery, Theodore Van Duzer, 3rd edition, 1994
"Lasers: Invention to Application,"
John R. Whinnery, Jesse H. Ausubel (eds.), 1987 * ''The World of Engineering,'' John R. Whinnery (ed.), 1965

Selected honors and awards

* IEEE Fellow (1952) * John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (1959) * National Academy of Engineering (1965) * IEEE Education Medal (1967) * National Academy of Sciences Member (1972) * ASEE Lamme Medal (1974) * IEEE MTTS Microwave Career Award (1976) * Optical Society of America Fellow (1978) * American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow (1980) * UC Berkeley Engineering Alumni Society Distinguished Alumni Award (1980) * IEEE Life Member (1982) * IEEE MTTS Centennial Medal Award (1984) * IEEE Medal of Honor (1985) * NAE Founders Award (1986) * American Association for the Advancement of Sciences Life Member (1988) * National Medal of Science (1992) * Okawa Prize (1997)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whinnery, John IEEE Medal of Honor recipients National Medal of Science laureates 1916 births 2009 deaths American electrical engineers University of California, Berkeley faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences IEEE Centennial Medal laureates Fellow Members of the IEEE 20th-century American engineers