Jewell James Ebers (November 25, 1921 – March 30, 1959) was an American electrical engineer who is remembered for the mathematical model of the

bipolar junction transistor A bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is a type of transistor that uses both electrons and electron holes as charge carriers. In contrast, a unipolar transistor, such as a field-effect transistor, uses only one kind of charge carrier. A bipola ...

that he published with

John L. Moll John Louis Moll (December 21, 1921 – July 19, 2011) was an American electrical engineer, notable for his contributions to solid-state physics. Biography Moll was born in Wauseon, Ohio, and obtained a B.Sc. in Physics and a Ph.D. in Electrical ...

in 1954. The Ebers-Moll model of the transistor views the transistor as a pair of diodes, and the model is a fusion of the models of these diodes. J.J. Ebers was born in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

on November 25, 1921. He served three years in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

. Ebers attended

Antioch College Antioch College is a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1852 as a non-sectarian institution; politician and education reformer Horace Mann was its ...

where he obtained a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in 1946. He entered

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

studying electrical engineering, obtaining his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in 1947 and Ph.D. in 1950. Ebers continued at Ohio State as a research associate in the university's research foundation, as an instructor, and as an

assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree A docto ...

until 1951. In September 1951 Ebers joined

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial Research and development, research and scientific developm ...

in Murray Hill, New Jersey. There he worked with J.L. Moll with whom he published the frequently-cited article on "Large-signal behavior of junction transistors" which is the basis of the Ebers-Moll model. According to James M. Early, Ebers' technical contributions, qualities of personal leadership, and management skill led to promotions to supervisor, department head, and Director of the Allentown Lab of Bell. Ebers was a member of

Eta Kappa Nu Eta Kappa Nu () or IEEE-HKN is the international honor society of the Computer Science and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). "The organization promotes excellence in the profession and in education through an emphasi ...

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is a highly prestigious, non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a small group of graduate students in 1886 ...

, and the American Physical Society. Jewell James Ebers died on March 30, 1959, following an undisclosed short illness.''New York Times'' (1 April 1959) "J. James Ebers, engineer, was 37" As a memorial to his scientific work, every year the

IEEE Electron Devices Society 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 operati ...

grants the J J Ebers Award to a worthy engineer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ebers, Jewell James American electrical engineers 1921 births 1959 deaths Antioch College alumni United States Army soldiers People from Grand Rapids, Michigan 20th-century American engineers Ohio State University College of Engineering alumni