Raymond Waibel Ketchledge (December 8, 1919 – October 23, 1987) was an American engineer, known for his contributions to the first computerized telephone switching control systems.

Biography

Born in

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

, Ketchledge married Lois Jane Quackenbush. He earned a B.Sc. and

M.Sc. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

(1942) in

electrical engineering 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 ...

from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining Bell Labs where he stayed for his whole professional career (1942–1982). At Bell Labs he first worked on the Mark 24 FIDO Torpedo used in World War II, then took part in developing the first underwater repeater systems and the L3 coaxial carrier for Transatlantic telephone cable systems (1946–54), before becoming the leader of the ''Switching systems'' development group (1956). This brought him fame due to the pioneering work on applying stored program architecture to telephone switching systems. Ketchledge oversaw the installation project for the first

1ESS switch The Number One Electronic Switching System (1ESS) was the first large-scale stored program control (SPC) telephone exchange or electronic switching system in the Bell System. It was manufactured by Western Electric and first placed into servi ...

Succasunna Succasunna is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Roxbury Township, in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, serving as its downtown and population center, having a population of 9,152 people as of ...

(1965). Following this he directed the ''Indian Hill'' laboratories of Naperville, Illinois (1966–75), before returning to New Jersey where he oversaw the ''Ocean systems'' research division in Whippany, New Jersey, until his retirement. He held sixty patents in diverse areas, including thirty-one in switching systems. He died of cancer at his home in Englewood, Florida, on October 23, 1987.

Awards

* National Academy of Engineering inductee (1970) * IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal (1976) with

Amos E. Joel Jr. Amos Edward Joel Jr. (March 12, 1918 – October 25, 2008) was an American electrical engineer, known for several contributions and over seventy patents related to telecommunications switching systems. Biography Joel was born in Philadelphia, ...

and

William Keister William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conques ...

* IEEE Fellow *

New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame The New Jersey Inventor's Hall of Fame was established in 1987 to honor individuals and corporations in New Jersey for their inventions. Award recipients are recognized at the annual Award Banquet Dinner. The New Jersey Inventors Hall of ...

inductee

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ketchledge, Raymond American electrical engineers Scientists at Bell Labs MIT School of Engineering alumni People from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 1919 births 1987 deaths People from Hanover Township, New Jersey People from Englewood, Florida Engineers from Pennsylvania Engineers from New Jersey 20th-century American engineers