Clarence Lester Hogan (February 8, 1920 – August 12, 2008) was an American
physicist and a pioneer in
microwave and
semiconductor technology.
He grew up as a brother to three sisters in
Great Falls, Montana
Great Falls is the third most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Cascade County. The population was 60,442 according to the 2020 census. The city covers an area of and is the principal city of the Great Falls, M ...
, where his father worked for the
Great Northern Railway. After graduating from
Montana State University
Montana State University (MSU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 6 ...
with a degree in
chemical engineering he joined the
United States Navy in 1942. He did some work on
acoustic torpedoes in
Chesapeake Bay, and when being approached by
Bell Laboratories, subsequently went to the Pacific theatre to train submarine crews in the use of that technology.
After the war he did post-graduate studies at
Lehigh University and obtained a Ph.D. in Physics. He then joined Bell Labs in 1950. A couple of months later he invented the Microwave
Gyrator
A gyrator is a passive, linear, lossless, two-port electrical network element proposed in 1948 by Bernard D. H. Tellegen as a hypothetical fifth linear element after the resistor, capacitor, inductor and ideal transformer. Unlike the four conventio ...
(a device which can simulate inductance by substituting an ''RC'' circuit, thus getting rid of awkward coil assemblies). He worked under
Bill Shockley
William Albert Shockley Jr. (March 13, 1937 – December 7, 1992) was an American football kicker and halfback who played for four seasons for four different teams, the New York Titans, Buffalo Bills, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played co ...
, inventor of the
transistor and
Nobel Prize laureate. From 1953 through 1958 he was a professor at
Harvard University, when he was asked by Dan Noble to join
Motorola Semiconductor in
Phoenix, Arizona, as vice president and general manager of the semiconductor operation.
In 1968 he moved to
Fairchild Camera & Instrument as Chairman and CEO, taking eight senior executives (nicknamed ''Hogan's Heroes'') with him. This move caused Motorola to sue Fairchild (unsuccessfully) for theft of trade secrets.
In 1975 he received IEEE's "Frederik Philips Award". In 1978 he was honoured with the "
AeA Medal of Achievement". In 1993 he received the "
MTT-S Microwave Pioneer Award". In 1996, a chair at the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the
University of California, Berkeley was named in his honor, currently held by
Shafi Goldwasser.
On October 20, 1999, he was inducted as "Eminent Member" of
Eta Kappa Nu, "the society’s highest membership classification, to be conferred upon those select few whose technical attainments and contributions to society through leadership in the field of electrical and computer engineering have resulted in significant benefits to humankind".
C. Lester Hogan died at the age of 88 due to complications of Alzheimer's disease at his home in
Atherton, California
Atherton () is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, San Mateo County, California, United States. Its population was 7,188 as of 2020.
Atherton is known for its wealth; in 1990 and 2019, Athe ...
.
References
External links
Stanford University (Silicon Genesis)(Interview with Les Hogan – 1995)
(Interview with Les Hogan – 1995)
("An Oral History of Semiconductor Technology")
Electronic Engineering Times("The Hogan bombshell" – October 30, 1997)
("Motorola vs Fairchild case files")
AeA(Gala: "60th anniversary of the founding of AeA" – October 16, 2003)
("ΗΚΝ Eminent Members List")
* Biography - Clarence Lester Hogan, Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions, Jan 195
Biography - Clarence Lester Hogan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hogan, Lester
1920 births
2008 deaths
People from Great Falls, Montana
Montana State University alumni
Lehigh University alumni
Harvard University faculty
20th-century American physicists
Deaths from dementia in California
Deaths from Alzheimer's disease
20th-century American inventors