Ferdo Ivanek (June 1, 1923 – October 2, 2021) 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 l ...

of Yugoslav origin. He is best known for his contributions to

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ran ...

oscillators Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...

and

amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost the v ...

s. He is the father of the American actor

Željko Ivanek Željko Ivanek (né Šimić-Ivanek; ; ; born August 15, 1957) is an American actor, known for his role as Ray Fiske on ''Damages'', for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award. Ivanek is also known for his role of Ed Danvers on '' Homicide: Life on t ...

Biography

Ferdinand Ivanek was born in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

, and grew up in the village of Zajezda in

Hrvatsko zagorje Hrvatsko Zagorje (; Croatian Zagorje; ''zagorje'' is Croatian for "backland" or "behind the hills") is a cultural region in northern Croatia, traditionally separated from the country's capital Zagreb by the Medvednica Mountain. It comprises ...

, and then moved to

Varaždin ) , image_photo = , image_skyline = , image_flag = Flag of Varaždin.svg , flag_size = , image_seal = , seal_size = , image_shield = Grb_Grad ...

where he completed middle school. During World War II, Ivanek's parents were hung by the fascist

Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...

, while he also lost some 20 Jewish relatives on his mother's side, in Ustaše and Nazi concentration camps, as recounted in a book by his cousin Paul Schreiner. Ivanek received his engineer's degree at the Technical High School in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

(today's

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...

) in 1948. Afterwards he moved to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

to study electrical engineering, and he received his bachelor's degree and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from

TU Wien TU Wien (TUW; german: Technische Universität Wien; still known in English as the Vienna University of Technology from 1975–2014) is one of the major universities in Vienna, Austria. The university finds high international and domestic recogn ...

. Between 1949 and 1955 Ivanek worked for his scholarship at the Central Radio Institute in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, then moved to Ljubljana where his family spent another decade. Between 1956 and 1957, he was employed at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana ( sl, Univerza v Ljubljani, , la, Universitas Labacensis), often referred to as UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 39,000 enrolled students. History Beginnings Although certain ...

's Institute for Telecommunications. At the time in

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, he worked in Zagreb, Belgrade, Ljubljana,

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enterta ...

before he moved abroad. In 1959, he came to the United States to work as a research assistant at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

's Microwave Integrated Circuits Laboratory, where he remained until 1962. He received his doctorate in Vienna in 1964. He later also obtained a doctorate in Zagreb in 1965. Between 1964 and 1967, when the Ljubljana research institute that specialized in radio equipment design and manufacturing was named the Institute for Automation (later part of the

Iskra ''Iskra'' ( rus, Искра, , ''the Spark'') was a political newspaper of Russian socialist emigrants established as the official organ of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). History Due to political repression under Tsar Nicho ...

conglomerate), he was an advisor and a manager of research projects. In 1967, he returned to the United States to work at

Fairchild Semiconductor Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. was an American semiconductor company based in San Jose, California. Founded in 1957 as a division of Fairchild Camera and Instrument, it became a pioneer in the manufacturing of transistors and of int ...

's Research and Development Division, where he focused on the applications of solid-state microwave devices. In 1986, he left Fairchild to establish Communications Research, a consulting firm. In 1995, he became an adjunct lecturer at Stanford University's Department of Engineering Economics Systems. Having served as the chairman of

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

Microwave Theory and Techniques Society's local chapters, Ivanek became the society's 1991 president. He became a fellow member of IEEE in 1993, for "his contributions to the development of fundamental-frequency/

and

s and their application in analog and digital radio relay systems." Ivanek also co-authored and edited the book, ''Terrestrial Digital Microwave Communications'' (1989). He was the recipient of IEEE Third Millennium Medal. Ivanek was married to Vojka Ivanek until her death in 2010; his wife worked at Stanford University as a project manager. Ivanek died on October 2, 2021, and was survived by his sons, Ivan and

References

External links

Ferdo Ivanek at IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivanek, Ferdo 1923 births 2021 deaths Yugoslav scientists TU Wien alumni Stanford University faculty Stanford University School of Engineering faculty American electronics engineers American telecommunications engineers Microwave engineers Fellow Members of the IEEE Croatian electrical engineers Slovenian electrical engineers 20th-century American engineers 21st-century American engineers Yugoslav emigrants to the United States Croatian emigrants to the United States Slovenian emigrants to the United States American engineering writers IEEE award recipients