William Alden Edson
William Alden Edson | |
---|---|
Born | October 30, 1912 |
Died | April 13, 2012 | (aged 99)
Alma mater | IEEE Fellow |
William Alden Edson (October 30, 1912 – April 13, 2012) was a scientist and engineer specializing in
He was a researcher at
Early life and education
Edson was born in Burchard, Nebraska to an educated farming family. Most of his childhood was spent in Olathe, Kansas, where his father, William Henry Edson, owned a modest farm. C. L. Edson was his uncle. His mother, Pearl (Montgomery) Edson was the librarian at the Carnegie library in Olathe. He had two siblings, married Saralou Peterson, and had three daughters. He was known as 'Bill' to friends and colleagues.
Edson attended the
Career
After earning his doctorate, he joined
From about 1947 until 1952, Edson was a professor of Electrical Engineering at the
Interested in moving to California, Edson approached Fred Terman at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, the area now widely known as Silicon Valley. Edson joined the faculty as Acting Professor, Electrical Engineering and was on the staff of Stanford Electronics Research Laboratory (ERL).[3] In 1956, Edson was working for General Electric in Palo Alto, CA. Among other work, there he co-authored a proposal called ERMA (Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting), which proposed the commercialization of a research project, starting with installation for Bank of America, but intended to be sold to other banking entities.[1]
In the early 1960s, he co-founded Electromagnetic Technologies Co. (EMTECH), which did much of its business with the U.S. Department of Defense. EMTECH was later acquired by American Electronic Laboratories (AEL), a Pennsylvania company. Edson, president of EMTECH at the time of the acquisition, left AEL to remain in the Silicon Valley area. In 1964, he was invited to speak at the Goddard Electronics Colloquia Series in Greenbelt, Maryland.[4] On November 25, his topic was "The Design of Oscillators and Concept of Frequency Stability". The Colloquia series was designed for "keeping our electrical engineers abreast of the latest developments in their field by exposing them to recognized leaders in the electronics profession from throughout the country."[4]
Edson joined the staff of the
Awards and memberships
In 1957, Edson was named a
In addition to his decades-long participation in IEEE, Edson was a longtime member of the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) and an active participant in the Western Electronics Show and Convention (WESCON), American Physical Society, American Association for Advancement of Science, American Society for Engineering Education, and the National Society for Professional Engineers.
References
- ^ a b c d e "Proposal ICB-1100101: Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting". Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communications and Computation. 2007.
- ^ Edson, William A (1948). High frequency crystal-controlled oscillator circuits. Georgia Tech Research Institute.
- ^ "Faculty and Staff". Stanford Alumni 1891-1955. Vol. II. Stanford University. 1956. pp. 964–986.
- ^ a b "New Colloquia Series Initiate" (PDF). Goddard News. Goddard Space Flight Center. 1964-11-16. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-21.
- ^ "Recent Retirees and Other Departures of Long-Time Staff" (PDF). SRI Alumni Association Newsletter. SRI International. August 2006. p. 10. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
- ^ "Awards to Staff by Professional Societies". SRI International. Retrieved 2013-07-01.
Further reading
- Oldfield, H.R. (Dec 1995). "General Electric Enters the Computer Business-Revisited". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 17 (4): 46–55. .
- Gillmor, C. Stewart (2004). Fred Terman at Stanford: building a discipline, a university, and Silicon Valley. Stanford University Press. p. 205. ISBN 9780804749145.
william edson stanford university.
- Edson, W. (1983-06-27). "This Week's Citation Classic". Proceedings of the IRE. 48 (8): 1454–1466. S2CID 51655052.
- "Contributors". Proceedings of the IRE. 31 (8): 461. August 1943. .
- "Contributors". Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers. 26 (7). July 1938.
- William Alden Edson's obituary