EARLY TRANSISTOR HISTORY AT GE

Jerry Suran – The Story of the Unijunction Transistor 

 

 

Biographic Note

 

Jerome J. Suran is a Senior Lecturer Emeritus in the Graduate School of Management and in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California in Davis. He received a BSEE degree from Columbia University and continued graduate studies there and at the Illinois Institute of Technology. In 1976 he was awarded the Doctor of Engineering degree, honoris causa, from Syracuse University for his pioneering work in transistor and integrated circuit technology and for the development of the General Electric Company implantable cardiac pacemaker.   Prior to coming to UCD, Mr. Suran had a 34-year career in industry, 30 years of which was with the General Electric Company where he held several management positions. His last position with GE was Staff Executive for Technology of the Technical Systems and Materials Sector, an eight billion-dollar high technology business.

 

Mr. Suran is the co-author of two books on transistor circuits and the author of over 50 papers in professional journals. He holds 19 patents.  He was elected a member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, elected to Eminent Engineer in Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society and elected to Eminent Member in Eta Kappa Nu, the electrical engineering honor society.  

 

 

Suran Historic Audio Recordings

 

 

Oral History – Jerry Suran

 

He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). In 1979 he was elected President of the IEEE, the world’s largest technical society with a worldwide membership of over 300,000. In 2000 he was awarded the IEEE Third Millennium Medal for outstanding achievements and contributions to the profession. In 2003, on its 50th anniversary, he was honored as one of the founding pioneers of the IEEE International Solid State Circuits Conference.

 

This Oral History was taken in January 2005 and highlights Jerry’s pioneering work on unijunction transistor technology at General Electric’s Electronics Laboratory in the early 1950s.

 

When you started with GE Electronics Lab in 1952, was the unijunction transistor applications work your first assignment?

 

No. When I joined GE in 1952, our particular group under Dick Shea was working under a tri-service contract, sponsored jointly by the Air Force, the Army Signal Corps and the Navy.  The basic purpose of that contract was, amazingly, to advance the state of the art of transistors.

 

 

Go To Suran Oral History, Page 2

 

 

 

 

 

COPYRIGHT © 2005 by Jack Ward.  All Rights Reserved.  http://www.transistormuseum.com/

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