Ernst Adolph Guillemin (May 8, 1898 – April 1, 1970) was an 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 ...

and

computer scientist A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus ( ...

at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...

who spent his career extending the art and science of linear network analysis and synthesis. His nephew

Victor Guillemin Victor William Guillemin (born 1937 in Boston) is an American mathematician working in the field of symplectic geometry, who has also made contributions to the fields of microlocal analysis, spectral theory, and mathematical physics. He is a ...

is a math professor at MIT, his nephew Robert Charles Guillemin was a sidewalk artist, his great-niece Karen Guillemin is a biology professor at the University of Oregon, and his granddaughter Mary Elizabeth Meyerand is a Medical Physics Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Biography

Guillemin was born in 1898, in Milwaukee, and received his B.S. (1922) and S.M. (1924) degrees in electrical engineering from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

and MIT, respectively. He then attended the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operati ...

, under

Arnold Sommerfeld Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld, (; 5 December 1868 – 26 April 1951) was a German theoretical physicist who pioneered developments in atomic and quantum physics, and also educated and mentored many students for the new era of theoretical ...

, on a Saltonstall Traveling Fellowship. He was granted his doctorate in 1926, whereupon he returned to MIT as an instructor, becoming Assistant Professor in 1928, Associate Professor in 1936, and Professor in Electrical Communications in 1944. In 1960, he was appointed to the MIT Edwin Sibley Webster Chair of Electrical Engineering, a title he held until his retirement in 1963. On the invitation of Edward L. Bowles in 1928, Guillemin was invited to assist in the development of a communications option for undergraduate students. In this effort, he revised and expanded a subject that included communication transmission lines, telephone repeaters, balancing networks, and filter theory. Thus began his lifelong career of developing and refining linear, lumped, finite, passive, and bilateral networks in the sphere of teaching. Guillemin was appointed consultant to the Microwave Committee of the

National Defense Research Committee The National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) was an organization created "to coordinate, supervise, and conduct scientific research on the problems underlying the development, production, and use of mechanisms and devices of warfare" in the Un ...

in 1940. As such, he spent about half of his time consulting with groups in the MIT

Radiation Laboratory The Radiation Laboratory, commonly called the Rad Lab, was a microwave and radar research laboratory located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was first created in October 1940 and operated until 3 ...

. He took over administrative responsibility of the Communications Option in the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering, in 1941. During his career, Guillemin influenced many undergraduate and graduate students who went on to contribute greatly in industry and academia; included in the list are his graduate students

Robert Fano Roberto Mario "Robert" Fano (11 November 1917 – 13 July 2016) was an Italian-American computer scientist and professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He became a student and working ...

and Thomas Stockham. His professional contributions were recognized internationally with numerous honors and awards. ;Memberships *Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...

(1955) *Fellow of the

American Institute of Electrical Engineers The American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) was a United States-based organization of electrical engineers that existed from 1884 through 1962. On January 1, 1963, it merged with the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) to form the Institu ...

*Fellow of the

Institute of Radio Engineers The Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) was a professional organization which existed from 1912 until December 31, 1962. On January 1, 1963, it merged with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) to form the Institute of Electrical ...

*Foreign Fellow of the British

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

;Honors *1948 – President's Certificate of Merit for his outstanding contributions during

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 opposing ...

*1961 – IRE Medal of Honor from the

*1962 – American Institute of Electrical Engineers Education Medal *1960 - Appointed the first Edwin Sibley Webster Professor

Publications

Ernst A. Guillemin has written several books: * 1931. ''Communication Networks'' (Wiley) * 1935. ''Communication Networks: Vol. II The Classical Theory of Long Lines, Filters and Related Networks'' (Wiley) * 1941. ''Notes for Principles of Electrical Communications 6.30'' (MIT) * 1944. ''The Mathematics of Circuit Analysis: Vol. 1 Reference Volumes for Collateral Study - Principles of Electrical Engineering Series'' (Department of Electrical Engineering, MIT) * 1953. ''Introductory Circuit Theory'' (Wiley) *1957. ''Synthesis of Passive Networks: Theory and Methods Appropriate to the Realization and Approximation Problems'' (Wiley) * 1960. ''Linear System Theory'' (Guillemin) * 1963. ''Theory of Linear Physical Systems: Theory of Physical Systems from the Viewpoint of Classical Dynamics, Including Fourier Methods'' (Wiley) * 1963. ''Theory of Linear Physical Systems'' (Wiley) * 1969. ''The Mathematics of Circuit Analysis: Extensions to the Mathematical Training of Electrical Engineers - Principles of Electrical Engineering Series'' (MIT)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guillemin, Ernst 1898 births 1970 deaths Control theorists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences IEEE Medal of Honor recipients MIT School of Engineering alumni MIT School of Engineering faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Engineering alumni Engineers from Wisconsin Scientists from Milwaukee 20th-century American engineers Microwave engineers