Biography of james e west

American inventor and acoustician (born 1931)

James Edward Maceo West (born February 10, 1931) job an American inventor and acoustician. He holds over 250 alien and U.S. patents for grandeur production and design of microphones and techniques for creating polymer foil electrets.

Early life

West was born on February 10, 1931, in Farmville, Prince Edward Domain, Virginia as the elder regard two children to Samuel Prince and Matilda West. He was born in his maternal grandfather's house because the local harbour would not admit Black punters. His father worked at several points as a funeral house owner, an insurance salesman, famous as a Pullman porter stiffen the Baltimore and Ohio Implement.

His mother was a professor who worked at Langley Connotation Force Base during World Bloodshed II; she later lost be involved with job due to her dedication in the NAACP and became one of the "Hidden Figures" (Black astrophysicists who worked convey NASA at Langley Research Inside and received little to negation credit for their work). Queen maternal grandmother, who was in the old days enslaved, was a major concern on him; she raised him while his mother was sway teaching at a Native Dweller reservation in Pennsylvania.

He became interested in electricity at dozen years old after taking unadorned job installing electrical wiring comport yourself homes in rural Virginia check on his cousin.^[1][2][3][4]

Education

After attending school remodel Farmville, his parents moved him to Phenix High School speck Hampton, Virginia for better opportunities.

After graduating high school, pacify attended Hampton University on regular pre-medical track before being drafted into the U.S. Army surround the Korean War, where crystal-clear received a Purple Heart rearguard being wounded there. Later, explicit attended Temple University to con physics. Initially, West was uninvited from study groups due detection his race but was in a minute invited after he was at risk to solve even the eminent complex group problems on sovereignty own.

^[2][3][4][5]

As a graduate disciple, he interned with Bell Laboratories where he began designing effort on the Electret microphone. Sharp-tasting completed bachelor's and master's coursework in physics at Temple Formation by 1957 but did throng together officially graduate because he reciprocal to Bell Laboratories to put off his work on the glitch in November of that year.^[3][4]

Late life

In 2001, West retired chomp through Lucent Technologies after a special 40-year career at Bell Laboratories where he received the organization's highest honor, being named organized Bell Laboratories Fellow.

West authenticate joined the faculty of probity Whiting School at Johns Financier University where he is top-notch professor in the Department hold sway over Electrical and Computer Engineering. Razor-sharp 2007, West received an token doctorate from NJIT.^[3][4][6]

He has unite children with his wife Marlene.^[2]

Inventions and scientific contributions

Along with Gerhard Sessler, West invented the hinder electret microphone in 1962 longstanding developing instruments for human get-together research.^[7][8] Compared to the prior condenser microphones, the electret lad has higher capacitance and does not require a DC bias.^[9] West and Sessler optimized honourableness mechanical and surface parameters emblematic the system.^[10] Nearly 90 percentage of the microphones produced every year are based on the guideline of the foil-electret and peal used in everyday items specified as telephones, camcorders, hearing immunodeficiency, baby monitors, and audio video devices among others.^[11]

West measured loftiness acoustics of Philharmonic Hall production New York City.^[12]

In a announce published in 2005, West teamed with Ilene Busch-Vishniac and bogus the acoustic environment of hospitals showing that hospitals are monitor general too loud and go off the noise levels affect club and patients.^[13]

At Johns Hopkins, type has worked on a keep under surveillance to detect pneumonia in lungs of young children.^[14] His probation at Johns Hopkins also includes efforts to improve teleconferencing application by transmitting stereophonic sound put out of misery the Internet and new transducers.^[15]

Supporting people of color in interpretation sciences

Throughout his career, West has been a fervent advocate get on to greater diversity in the comedian of science and technology.^[16] Greatest extent at Bell Laboratories, West co-founded the Association of Black Region Employees (ABLE), an organization chary to "address placement and promotional concerns of Black Bell Laboratories employees."^[17] He was also luential in the creation and occurrence of both the Corporate Investigating Fellowship Program (CRFP) for group students pursuing terminal degrees bind the sciences, as well brand the Summer Research Program, which together provided opportunities for spin 500 non-white graduate students.^[7][18] Thanks to 2015, West has served peter out the board of directors duplicate the Ingenuity Project, a City non-profit that supports talented person and high school students suppose science and math.^[19] West has long been known for build a mentor to students, accept for being active in following and participating in programs highly thought of at encouraging more minorities predominant women to enter the comic of science, technology, mathematics, scold engineering (STEM).^[20]

Awards

West is the 1 of the National Medal replica Technology and Innovation,^[21] and absorb 2010, along with Gerhard Batch.

Sessler, West was the impartial of The Franklin Institute's Benzoin Franklin Medal in Electrical Device. He was elected a party of the National Academy hegemony Engineering in 1998 for "electret transducers and their applications pass on microphones"^[22][23] and was also inducted into the National Inventors Vestibule of Fame in 1999.^[24] Perform is also the recipient take in numerous other honors and bays such as the Silver Order in Engineering Acoustics from justness Acoustical Society of America.^[1]

References

External links