John R. Pierce

An engineer with Bell Labs, Pierce was there when a new electronic switch was invented, and he got to name the thing. The year: 1948. He decided to call it a "transistor". He said later that was "the most significant thing that ever happened to me," but that's far from the largest impact he had on the world. He read and wrote (using the pen name J.J. Coupling) science fiction, and was so inspired by an Arthur C. Clarke story about geosynchronous communications satellites that he went on to create the Telstar satellite system. Clarke said that Pierce "designed, developed, and produced it, making real that which I and others thought only to write and dream about." In 1962, Pierce helped use Telstar I for the first live international TV broadcast. He retired from Bell in 1971, and later went on to teach at Stanford University. Pierce died in California on April 2 at age 92. From This is True for 31 March 2002 Suggestions for further reading: GPS For Dummies by Joel McNamara Amazon Price: $16.49 Customer Review: I was looking for more of a Marine GPS type of instructions. A small chapter was not what I needed.   The Arrl Satellite Handbook by Steve Ford Amazon Price: $21.33 Customer Review: I love this book. Mr. Ford does an excellent job of describing what you need to know to work the sats. Read it three times and am still picking things up. This is VERY much worth the money. Been a ham since 1976 and I would highly recommend anyone ne...   The Radio Station, Eighth Edition: Broadcast, Satellite and Internet by MICHAEL C KEITH Amazon Price: $33.84   Understanding GPS: Principles and Applications, Second Edition Amazon Price: $104.65 Customer Review: Great reference not sure about it serving as a good text book as the section on Modulation, for instance, is not very detailed and not all that well put together. For instance, equations 4.7 does not follow from figure 4.5 if you use a repeating inp...   Introduction to Satellite Communication (Artech House Space Applications) by Bruce R. Elbert Amazon Price: $74.52 Customer Review: This book is very useful if you are trying to pave your way into the field of satellite communications. You will later find out that the book can still serve you as a handy reference when you are already involved and experienced with satellite co...   Newsfeed display by CaRP

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