Browder J. Thompson (August 14, 1903 – July 4/5, 1944) was a noted American

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

. Thompson was born in

Roanoke, Louisiana Roanoke is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana, United States. Its population was 546 as of the 2010 census. The Roanoke post office was established in 1895. Geography According to the U.S ...

, and in 1925 received his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

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. In 1926 he joined

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's research laboratory to design

vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric voltage, potential difference has been applied. The type kn ...

s. In 1931 he transferred to the RCA Radiotron Company, in Harrison, New Jersey, as part of the company's antitrust settlement, to lead its electrical research. In 1941 he was elected a Fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

. (search on year 1941 and institution RCA Manufacturing Company) Thompson was co-director of RCA Laboratories,

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, from 1942 until December, 1943, when he accepted a special assignment for the Secretary of War. He was killed in action in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

while observing an air-to-ground

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

during a night flight over

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. Thompson was a Fellow of the Institute of Radio Engineers, and received the 1936

IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award The initially called Morris Liebmann Memorial Prize provided by the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE), the IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award was created in 1919 in honor of Colonel Morris N. Liebmann. It was initially given to awardees who h ...

"for his contribution to the vacuum-tube art in the field of very-high frequencies." The Browder J. Thompson Prize Award was named in his honor.

References

Obituary, Proceedings of the IRE, February 1945

Browder J. Thompson Memorial

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Browder J. American electrical engineers 1903 births 1944 deaths American civilians killed in World War II 20th-century American engineers Fellows of the American Physical Society