Bernard M. Oliver (May 17, 1916 – November 23, 1995), also known as Barney Oliver, was a

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

who made contributions in many fields, including

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

, and

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

s. He was the founder and director of

Hewlett Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

( HP) laboratories until his retirement in 1981. He is also a recognized pioneer in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Oliver was president of the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 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 ...

in 1965. In 1986, Oliver was a

National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social scienc ...

recipient for

Engineering Science Engineering physics, or engineering science, refers to the study of the combined disciplines of physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, and engineering, particularly computer, nuclear, electrical, electronic, aerospace, materials or mechanical en ...

and on February 11, 2004 it was announced that Oliver had been inducted into the

National Inventors Hall of Fame The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a U.S. patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also opera ...

. Oliver was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1973, received the National Medal of Science in 1986, and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2004. The asteroid (2177) Oliver is named after him.

Early years

Worked at

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 scientific development company owned by mult ...

HP Labs

Founded

HP Labs HP Labs is the exploratory and advanced research group for HP Inc. HP Labs' headquarters is in Palo Alto, California and the group has research and development facilities in Bristol, UK. The development of programmable desktop calculators, ink ...

and worked there four decades.

Scientific contributions

* Developed

pulse-code modulation Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the ...

(PCM) with

John R. Pierce John Robinson Pierce (March 27, 1910 – April 2, 2002), was an American engineer and author. He did extensive work concerning radio communication, microwave technology, computer music, psychoacoustics, and science fiction. Additionally to his ...

and

Claude Shannon Claude Elwood Shannon (April 30, 1916 – February 24, 2001) was an American people, American mathematician, electrical engineering, electrical engineer, and cryptography, cryptographer known as a "father of information theory". As a 21-year-o ...

* Headed the

HP calculators HP calculators are various calculators manufactured by the Hewlett-Packard company over the years. Their desktop models included the HP 9800 series, while their handheld models started with the HP-35. Their focus has been on high-end scientific ...

development team

Chairs, foundations, and awards

* In 2004 he was inducted into The National Inventors Hall of Fame. * In 1997 the SETI Institute established a newly endowed position, the Bernard M. Oliver Chair. * Bernard Oliver Memorial Fund''Bernard Oliver Memorial Fund''
/ref> *

List of National Medal of Science winners The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the following six fields: behavioral scien ...

, Engineering 1986 *

Oliver Observing Station The Oliver Observing Station is an independent professional astronomical observatory named after Barnard M. Oliver. It is owned and operated by The Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy (MIRA). Site The observatory is in the Los Padres Na ...

, observatory of the

Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy The Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy (MIRA) is an independent, non-profit, professional astronomical observatory dedicated to astronomical education and research, near Monterey, California. It was the first private professional obse ...

IEEE Lamme Medal The initially called AIEE Lamme Medal was established in 1924 by the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) to recognize members for 'meritorious achievement in the development of electrical apparatus or machinery.' The medal was named i ...

(1977)

References

External links