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Majority
of our modern day microphones are based on Dr. James
Edward West's invention of the microphone in 1962. Dr West developed the
Electroacoustic Transducer Electret Microphone
with Gerhard Sessler, a colleague, while working at Bell laboratories. The
foil-electret transducers they developed for the microphone helps in sound recording and voice communication. This is used
in about 90% of all microphones and also at the heart of most new telephones,
camcorders and tape recorders. The new
microphone's light weight, high performance, small size, reliability, and its
low cost made it widely used. He holds 47 US and over 200 international patents
for his work polymer foil electrets.
Dr
James West was born in Prince Edwards County, Virginia on February 10, 1931. He
received his BS in Physics from Temple University
in 1957. During his summer breaks he interned at Bell Laboratories and joined
them full-time when he graduated from Temple University. He retired as a Bell
Laboratories Fellow and Lucent Technologies in
2001. Dr West joined Whiting School at John Hopkins
University staff, as a research professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, after his 40 years career
at Bell Laboratories.
He
has always been involved himself in programs that aim in encouraging minorities
to take more role in the sciences. Dr West was a co-foundation of the
Association of Black Laboratory Employees (ABLE); it led to the establishment of the
Cooperative Research Fellowship Program and the Summer Research Program for
college students. The programs have helped
more than 500 non-white students graduate with degrees in science, engineering
and mathematics. Dr James West has received numerous awards including the U.S. National Medals of Technology, the Golden Torch Award in 1998 by the National Society of Black Engineers, the Lewis Howard Latimer Light
Switch and Socket Award in 1989, and was chosen New Jersey Inventor of
the Year for 1995 and inducted into the Inventors Hall
of Fame in 1999. He is a recipient of The Franklin Institute's 2010 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering with Gerhard Sessler.
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The mission of NSBE is to increase the number of culturally responsible Black engineers who excel academiccally, succeed professionally, and positively impact the community.
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