Western Electric Company

Family background and early education; University of Oklahoma; graduate work and electrical engineering at California Institute of Technology. Bell Laboratories, 1936-1946; colloquium and other social structures; early solid state physics work; Fletcher’s group with Foster Nix and William Shockley; war years, work on radar bomb sights; postwar years. Move to Hughes Aircraft Company, 1946-1953; formation and accomplishments of Thompson-Ramo-Wooldridge after 1953; current interests. Also prominently mentioned are: Joseph A. Becker, R. S. Bowen, Walter Houser Brattain, Oliver E. Buckley, Joseph Ashby Burton, Karl Kelchner Darrow, Clinton Joseph Davisson, Paul Sophus Epstein, Conyers Herring, C. N. Hickman, Howard Hughes, J. B. Johnson, Edward Karrouse, Mervin J. Kelly, G. A. Kelsall, J. W. McRae, Robert Andrews Millikan, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Gerald Leondus Pearson, Don Quarles, Simon Ramo, Rhine, Duane Roller, Hellvar Skaade, William Ralph Smythe, Leopold Stokowski, Richard Chase Tolman, Charles Hard Townes, Howell J. Williams, Jewel Wurtzbaugh, Fritz Zwicky; American Physical Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States Air Force, and Western Electric Company.

Concentrates on oil-drop experiment. Family background and early education; undergraduate at Brigham Young University (physics); graduate at University of Chicago, Robert Millikan and Albert A. Michelson as physicists and teachers. Extensive coverage of the work and relationship with Millikan on the "oil-drop" technique with two versions of the nature of the collaboration presented by Vern Knudsen, one from Millikan's autobiography and Fletcher's own account. Work on modification of Stokes' law and Brownian motion. Impact of electric charge measurement. Teaching at Brigham Young 1911-1916; acoustics work at Western Electric Co.(later Bell Labs) on the determination of the critical bands of hearing; dynamics of the cochlea; development of stereophonic sound. Role in formation of Acoustical Society of America. Interests in electronic reproduction of musical tones. Successful effort to develop a school of engineering at Brigham Young. Discussion of Millikan's Nobel Prize, comments by Knudsen. Achievements of son. Also prominently mentioned are: Louis Begeman; Science (journal), and United States Bureau of Standards.

Studies in Europe, 1912; graduate study under Robert A. Millikan at University of Chicago; employment with Western Electric Co. and Bell Labs, 1917-1956; brief time doing experimental work on the "carbon microphone" and long distance sound detectors; review articles on contemporary advances in physics, 1920s-1930s; description of early meetings of American Physical Society (APS); 1933 visit to European centers for physical research; work on the relationship between commercial and basic research in physics. Organization and growth of APS, his terms as Secretary, 1941-1956, during which he introduced "invited papers" to major meetings; problems within APS and within the area of physics in general; his role in fostering international cooperation in physics. Outside interests. Also prominently mentioned are: Hans Albrecht Bethe, William Lawrence Bragg, Percy Williams Bridgman, J. J. Carty, Arthur Holly Compton, Clinton Joseph Davisson, Arthur Jeffrey Dempster, Enrico Fermi, James Brown Fisk, Harvey Fletcher, James Franck, Lester Halbert Germer, H. E. Ives, Frank Jewett, Arthur Lunn, Albert Abraham Michelson, George Braxton Pegram, Isidor Isaac Rabi, Frances Orr Severinghaus, William Francis Gray Swann, John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, Harold Worthington Webb; American Institute of Physics, United States National Bureau of Standards, and University of Chicago.

Studies in Europe, 1912; graduate study under Robert A. Millikan at University of Chicago; employment with Western Electric Co. and Bell Labs, 1917-1956; brief time doing experimental work on the "carbon microphone" and long distance sound detectors; review articles on contemporary advances in physics, 1920s-1930s; description of early meetings of American Physical Society (APS); 1933 visit to European centers for physical research; work on the relationship between commercial and basic research in physics. Organization and growth of APS, his terms as Secretary, 1941-1956, during which he introduced "invited papers" to major meetings; problems within APS and within the area of physics in general; his role in fostering international cooperation in physics. Outside interests. Also prominently mentioned are: Hans Albrecht Bethe, William Lawrence Bragg, Percy Williams Bridgman, J. J. Carty, Arthur Holly Compton, Clinton Joseph Davisson, Arthur Jeffrey Dempster, Enrico Fermi, James Brown Fisk, Harvey Fletcher, James Franck, Lester Halbert Germer, H. E. Ives, Frank Jewett, Arthur Lunn, Albert Abraham Michelson, George Braxton Pegram, Isidor Isaac Rabi, Frances Orr Severinghaus, William Francis Gray Swann, John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, Harold Worthington Webb; American Institute of Physics, United States National Bureau of Standards, and University of Chicago.

In this interview, Edward N. Clarke discusses: his family background and education; his time at Brown University and joining the Naval Reserves; his service in the Navy during and immediately following World War II; Vartan Gregorian, former president of Brown; his time at Harvard University with Ed Purcell, Norman Ramsey, and Julian Schwinger; a course he took in millimeter wave technology; Harry Farnsworth; Russ Sherburne; Al Crowell; low-energy electron diffraction work for his thesis; working with vacuum systems and photoelectric effects; his time with Sylvania Electric and work with semiconductors; his work with semiconductors; John Welty; Bell Laboratories and Western Electric; invention of the transistor by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley; learning how to grow single crystals; Bernie Rothlein; joining Sperry Rand and working with Joe Gruber, Bob Hopkins, and Art Seifert; Karl Lark-Horovitz; starting up their company, National Semiconductor; being a part of the Institute of Radio Engineers; working with venture capitalists; Peter Sprague; creating the first mass produced integrated circuit, an integrated chopper the INCH; integrated circuits were first invented by Bob Noyce and Jack Kilby; the field effect transistor; his time at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI); working jointly with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Bill Grogan; solar energy; solar powered car races; and his retirement and volunteer work.

This interview covers Charschan's memory of laser experimentation and techniques; the development of procedures for boring and drilling diamond dies; scribing ceramic plates for improved circuitry; the role and duties of the research center at Western Electric (AT&T Technologies); and the establishment of the ANSI laser safety standards (ANSI Z-136).

Early interest in science; Brown University 1891-1896; Carl Barus; Universität Berlin 1897-1900, thesis work with Emil Warburg; American students in Germany; Wesleyan University 1902-1946. Early American Physical Society meetings, Arthur G. Webster. The piezo electric resonator and the frequency stabilizer, work on Rochelle salt crystals. Lawsuits regarding patent rights; independent inventors versus big corporations. Excerpts of family history, societies, list of outstanding students, list of patents; about Hans Jaffe, Frank Dietz, Frederick Slocum, the Langevin-Curie scandal. Avocations, old violins; disposition of his early apparatus, inventions, diaries; reasons for moving back to Rhode Island. Also prominently mentioned are: Clark, Albert Wallace Hull, Walter Kaufmann, Henry Parker Manning, Albert Abraham Michelson, A. M. Nicolson, Max Planck, Poulsen, Edward Bennett Rosa, Heinrich Rubens, Schwartz, George Wood Vinal; Scott Laboratory, and Western Electric Company.

Early interest in science; Brown University 1891-1896; Carl Barus; Universität Berlin 1897-1900, thesis work with Emil Warburg; American students in Germany; Wesleyan University 1902-1946. Early American Physical Society meetings, Arthur G. Webster. The piezo electric resonator and the frequency stabilizer, work on Rochelle salt crystals. Lawsuits regarding patent rights; independent inventors versus big corporations. Excerpts of family history, societies, list of outstanding students, list of patents; about Hans Jaffe, Frank Dietz, Frederick Slocum, the Langevin-Curie scandal. Avocations, old violins; disposition of his early apparatus, inventions, diaries; reasons for moving back to Rhode Island. Also prominently mentioned are: Clark, Albert Wallace Hull, Walter Kaufmann, Henry Parker Manning, Albert Abraham Michelson, A. M. Nicolson, Max Planck, Poulsen, Edward Bennett Rosa, Heinrich Rubens, Schwartz, George Wood Vinal; Scott Laboratory, and Western Electric Company.