Donald Lester Bitzer (January 1, 1934 – December 10, 2024) was an American electrical engineer and computer scientist. He was the co-inventor of the

plasma display A plasma display panel is a type of flat-panel display that uses small cells containing Plasma (physics), plasma: Ionization, ionized gas that responds to electric fields. Plasma televisions were the first large (over diagonal) flat-panel displ ...

and was widely regarded as the "father of

PLATO Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

Life and career

Donald Lester Bitzer was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, on January 1, 1934. He grew up in

Collinsville, Illinois Collinsville is a city located mainly in Madison County and partially in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 24,366. Collinsville is approximately east of St. Louis, Missouri, and is ...

. Bitzer received three degrees in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

( B.S., 1955;

M.S. A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medicine ...

, 1956; Ph.D., 1960) from the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

. Bitzer held several patents in numerous areas, while the

computer system, the first system to combine graphics and

touchscreens A touchscreen (or touch screen) is a type of electronic visual display, display that can detect touch input from a user. It consists of both an input device (a touch panel) and an output device (a visual display). The touch panel is typically l ...

, is the most famous of his inventions. Bitzer co-invented the flat

panel in 1964. In 1974, Bitzer was elected as a member into the

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

for "his leadership in the utilization and development of technology for improving the effectiveness of education". From 1989, Bitzer was a Distinguished University Research Professor of Computer Science at

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

. Bitzer was married to Maryann Drost, a nurse and educator, from 1955 until her death in 2022 and had a son, along with three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He died of congestive heart failure at home in

Cary, North Carolina Cary is a town in Wake County, North Carolina, Wake, Chatham County, North Carolina, Chatham, and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh-Cary, NC M ...

, on December 10, 2024, at the age of 90.

Awards

In 1973, the

presented Bitzer with the Vladimir K. Zworykin Award, which honors the inventor of the

iconoscope The iconoscope (from the Greek Language, Greek: ''εἰκών'' "image" and ''σκοπεῖν'' "to look, to see") was the first practical video camera tube to be used in early television cameras. The iconoscope produced a much stronger signal tha ...

. Bitzer was a designated National Associate, an honor which was granted to him by the National Academies in 2002. He was also a member of the American Society for Engineering Education. *Member of the

(1974) *Computer Society

Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers , the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and ot ...

(1982) *Slottow Creativity Award (1989) *

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

(2002) *Inducted into

National Inventors Hall of Fame The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a US patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also operate ...

(2013) *Fellow of the

National Academy of Inventors The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is a US non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging inventors in academia, following the model of the National Academies of the United States. It was founded at the University of South Florida in 201 ...

(2018) *Holladay Medal (2019) *Fellow of the

Computer History Museum The Computer History Museum (CHM) is a computer museum in Mountain View, California. The museum presents stories and artifacts of Silicon Valley and the Information Age, and explores the Digital Revolution, computing revolution and its impact ...

(2022)

References

External links

NCSU Faculty ProfileOral history interview with Donald L. Bitzer

Charles Babbage Institute The IT History Society (ITHS) is an organization that supports the history and scholarship of information technology by encouraging, fostering, and facilitating archival and historical research. Formerly known as the Charles Babbage Foundation, ...

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. Bitzer discusses his relationship with

Control Data Corporation Control Data Corporation (CDC) was a mainframe and supercomputer company that in the 1960s was one of the nine major U.S. computer companies, which group included IBM, the Burroughs Corporation, and the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), the N ...

during the development of the PLATO system.
Oral history interview with Thomas Muir Gallie
Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota. Gallie, a program officer at the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

, describes the impact of Bitzer and the PLATO system.
University of Illinois Computer-based Education Research Laboratory PLATO Reports, PLATO Documents, and CERL Progress Reports
Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota. Archival collection that contains internal and external reports and publications related to the development of PLATO and its operations. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bitzer, Donald 1934 births 2024 deaths Deaths from congestive heart failure in the United States 20th-century American inventors American computer scientists American electrical engineers Grainger College of Engineering alumni North Carolina State University faculty Emmy Award winners Computer-based Education Research Laboratory People from East St. Louis, Illinois People from Collinsville, Illinois People from Raleigh, North Carolina People from Cary, North Carolina Fellows of the IEEE Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering