Hung Chang Lin (Jimmy Lin) (; August 8, 1919 – March 5, 2009) was a

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

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inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

and a professor of electrical engineering at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

Early life and education

Lin was born in

Shanghai, China Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. He attended

Shanghai Jiaotong University Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) is a public university in Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. It is a membe ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

on a tennis scholarship. Lin graduated with B.S. in electrical engineering in 1941. In 1948 he received the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. In 1956 he received the Doctor of Electrical Engineering from the

Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United St ...

Career

After graduating from Shanghai Jiaotong University, Lin worked for the Central Radio Works and Central Broadcasting Administration as an engineer. He left China in 1947 to begin his graduate work. After he earned his master's and doctorate degrees, Lin was worked at

RCA Laboratories RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Company ...

and was one of the first scientists to work on transistor circuit development. Lin was the first inventor to incorporate p-n-p or complementary integrated circuits. He later worked for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

and

Westinghouse Electric Corporation The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was ...

, researching and developing electrical engineering practices. In 1969, Lin began teaching at the University of Maryland. He worked at the university until his retirement in 1990. While a professor, Lin supervised and mentored 26 PhD students. He also worked part-time as an adjunct and visiting professor at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

and

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, respectively. Hung C. Lin held more than 60 U.S.

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

s. Among his inventions is the quasi-complementary (transistor) amplifier circuit, which has been used in many commercial audio amplifiers. Another of his inventions is the lateral transistor which is used in linear integrated circuits and TTL digital integrated circuits. He also invented the

wireless microphone A wireless microphone, or cordless microphone, is a microphone without a physical cable connecting it directly to the sound recording or amplifying equipment with which it is associated. Also known as a radio microphone, it has a small, battery ...

. He has published more than 170 professional papers mostly on transistors and integrated circuits. In 1978 he was presented with the

J J Ebers Award The J. J. Ebers Award was established in 1971 to foster progress in electron devices. It commemorates Jewell James Ebers, whose contributions, particularly to transistors, shaped the understanding and technology of electron devices. It is present ...

from the

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

. In 1990, Lin was inducted into the A. James Clark School of Engineering Innovation Hall of Fame at the University of Maryland. In 2000 he was elected to be

academician An academician is a full member of an artistic, literary, engineering, or scientific academy. In many countries, it is an honorific title used to denote a full member of an academy that has a strong influence on national scientific life. Accor ...

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, ; zh, t=中央研究院) is the national academy of the Taiwan, Republic of China. It is headquartered in Nangang District, Taipei, Nangang, Taipei. Founded in Nanjing, the academy supports research activities in mathemat ...

Death and legacy

Lin died in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially Unincorporated area, unincorporated, it is an edge city with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ...

of lung cancer at the age of 89. He is interred at

Columbia Gardens Cemetery The Columbia Gardens Cemetery is a cemetery located in the Ashton Heights Historic District of Arlington, Virginia. Cemetery The Columbia Gardens Cemetery is located at the southern boundary of the Ashton Heights Historic District and is one ...

. In 2011, his wife Anchen Lin donated to the University of Maryland School of Engineering to fund the Jimmy Lin Endowment for Entrepreneurship. The goal of the endowment was "to provide annual awards to students, staff, and faculty who transform their ideas into innovations through invention and technology commercialization."

References

External links

20th-century American inventors 20th-century Chinese inventors American technology writers Chinese technology writers University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni 1919 births 2009 deaths Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni Chinese emigrants to the United States {{US-inventor-stub