Georges Armand Deschamps
(October 18, 1911 — June 20, 1998) was a French American engineer and Professor Emeritus at the
Department of Electrical Engineering at
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is best known for his contributions to electromagnetic theory,
microwave engineering and
antenna
Antenna ( antennas or antennae) may refer to:
Science and engineering
* Antenna (radio), also known as an aerial, a transducer designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic (e.g., TV or radio) waves
* Antennae Galaxies, the name of two collid ...
theory. He is also regarded as an early pioneer of
microstrip
Microstrip is a type of electrical transmission line which can be fabricated with any technology where a conductor is separated from a ground plane by a dielectric layer known as the substrate. Microstrip lines are used to convey microwave-frequ ...
and
patch antennas, which he proposed in 1953.
Biography
Born on October 18, 1911 in
Vendôme, France, Deschamps was raised in
Normandy.
He was admitted to
École normale supérieure in Paris in 1931, where he studied mathematics and was a classmate of
Georges Pompidou, former
President of France.
He further received advanced degrees in physics and mathematics from
University of Paris, Sorbonne. Initially planning to study
topology with
Eduard ÄŒech at
Masaryk University, he eventually went to
Princeton University as a research associate for a year in 1937. Following this, he taught mathematics and physics at
Lycée Français de New York. In the meantime, with the advent of
World War II, he was enlisted to French Army and worked as an engineer for
Maginot Line
The Maginot Line (french: Ligne Maginot, ), named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by France in the 1930s to deter invasion by Germany and force the ...
. Following the
Battle of France
The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...
in 1940, he escaped through North Africa and returned to the United States in 1941 to resume his teaching duties.
In 1947, Deschamps joined
Federal Telecommunications Laboratories
The Federal Telegraph Company was a United States manufacturing and communications company that played a pivotal role in the 20th century in the development of radio communications. Founded in Palo Alto, California in 1909 by Cyril Frank Elwell, t ...
of
ITT Inc. as a project engineer, where he worked on
radio navigation and antenna design.
In 1958, he joined
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as the director of the Antenna Laboratory, following the departure of the previous director,
Victor H. Rumsey. The research work of the laboratory during this period focused on frequency independent antennas.
In 1978, he was elected to the
National Academy of Engineering for "his contributions to electromagnetic
scattering
Scattering is a term used in physics to describe a wide range of physical processes where moving particles or radiation of some form, such as light or sound, are forced to deviate from a straight trajectory by localized non-uniformities (including ...
, microwave engineering, and
laser beam propagation."
Being a Life Fellow of
IEEE, he was a recipient of
IEEE Centennial Medal
The IEEE Centennial Medal was a medal minted and awarded in 1984 ''to persons deserving of special recognition for extraordinary achievement'' to celebrate the Centennial of the founding of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (I ...
(1984) and
IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Distinguished Achievement Award (1987). He retired from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1982.
Deschamps died on June 20, 1998; he was survived by his wife Bunty, three children and five grandchildren.
Research
Deschamps's research focused on electromagnetic theory and its applications in antenna and microwave engineering. In 1953, he proposed the concept of
patch antenna concept at a
United States Air Force Antenna Symposium;
these antennas were eventually popularized and realized in the 1970s.
His main research work at his tenure at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign included
ray theory of electromagnetics,
high-frequency asymptotics and complex
point source representations of
Gaussian beams, last of which he introduced.
He also worked on the applications of
differential form
In mathematics, differential forms provide a unified approach to define integrands over curves, surfaces, solids, and higher-dimensional manifolds. The modern notion of differential forms was pioneered by Élie Cartan. It has many applications, ...
s to electromagnetics and focused primarily on the subject following his retirement.
Selected publications
;Journal articles
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References
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1911 births
1998 deaths
People from Normandy
École Normale Supérieure alumni
University of Paris alumni
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty
French telecommunications engineers
French emigrants to the United States
American telecommunications engineers
Microwave engineers
French schoolteachers
Schoolteachers from New York (state)
20th-century American engineers
20th-century French engineers
Electrical engineering academics
French military personnel of World War II
Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni
ITT Inc. people
Fellow Members of the IEEE
IEEE Centennial Medal laureates
Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering
American electronics engineers