electronics engineer
Electronic engineering is a sub-discipline of electrical engineering that emerged in the early 20th century and is distinguished by the additional use of active components such as semiconductor devices to amplify and control electric current flow ...
, an expert in
microwave
Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths shorter than other radio waves but longer than infrared waves. Its wavelength ranges from about one meter to one millimeter, corresponding to frequency, frequencies between 300&n ...
technology. He is the founder (1973) of
Compact Software
Compact Software was the first commercially successful microwave computer-aided design (CAD) company. The company was founded in 1973 by Les Besser to commercialize his eponymous program COMPACT (Computerized Optimization of Microwave Passive and ...
, the first commercially successful microwave computer-aided design (CAD) company, which commercialize his program COMPACT (Computerized Optimization of Microwave Passive and Active CircuiTs).Les Besser bio at Microwaves 101 Hall of FameLes Besser bio at Besser Associates
Les Besser was born and raised in Hungary (
interbellum
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...
and
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
Hungary and the
Hungarian People's Republic
The Hungarian People's Republic (HPR) was a landlocked country in Central Europe from its formation on 20 August 1949 until the establishment of the current Hungary, Republic of Hungary on 23 October 1989. It was a professed Communist_state# ...
). In 1956, he escaped to the West, and he became a
Canadian citizen
Canadian nationality law details the conditions by which a person is a national of Canada. The primary law governing these regulations is the Citizenship Act, which came into force on February 15, 1977 and is applicable to all provinces and t ...
in 1971. Later, he moved to the United States, graduated from the
University of Colorado
The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...
, and, in 2000, he became a
naturalized
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...
Hewlett-Packard
The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...
(1966–1969), using the
BASIC
Basic or BASIC may refer to:
Science and technology
* BASIC, a computer programming language
* Basic (chemistry), having the properties of a base
* Basic access authentication, in HTTP
Entertainment
* Basic (film), ''Basic'' (film), a 2003 film
...
computer language and
time-sharing
In computing, time-sharing is the Concurrency (computer science), concurrent sharing of a computing resource among many tasks or users by giving each Process (computing), task or User (computing), user a small slice of CPU time, processing time. ...
computers. After leaving HP, he joined the newly formed microwave division of
Fairchild Semiconductor
Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. was an American semiconductor company based in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1957 as a division of Fairchild Camera and Instrument by the " traitorous eight" who defected from Shockley Semi ...
, where he authored his first-generation program, SPEEDY,SPEEDY at Microwaves 101 Besser later converted another program, originally written for his graduate thesis work, to run on a commercial time-share system and launched a part-time business, Compact Engineering (later renamed Compact Software). Besser submitted the description of COMPACT to ''
IEEE Transactions
The publications of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) constitute around 30% of the world literature in the electrical and electronics engineering and computer science fields, publishing well over 100 peer-reviewed journal ...
on Circuit Theory'' in 1972, but it was initially rejected, and was not accepted until after the addition of a large amount of mathematics into it. Besser was associated with development of COMPACT until 1983. In 1985, Besser founded Besser Associates, a company that offers education in microwave technology. He also co-authored several textbooks on the subject. In 2004, he retired and sold the company but continued occasionally teaching courses.
Besser has received numerous international recognitions and awards and was listed in the Marquis "Who Is Who in American Colleges and Universities" in 1966 and "Who Is Who in the World" in 1995.
In 2013, The Hewlett-Packard Memory Project published Les Besser's two-volume memoir, "Hurdling to Freedom: A Hungarian's Escape to America," downloadable without charge from the Project's website.
From 1988 to 1990 he was the editorial director of Microwave Systems News (MSN) magazine.
He has been a member of the American Hungarian Federation. In 2018, Besser and his wife Susan were living in Carlsbad, California."Carlsbad senior living the American dream" '' The San Diego Tribune'', 2018
Awards and recognition
*
IEEE
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines.
The IEEE ...
Life Fellow
*1983: IEEE MTT "Microwave Applications Award"
*1987: IEEE RFTG "Career Award"
*2000: IEEE "Third Centennial Medal"
*2006: IEEE Educational Activities Board's "Meritorious Achievement Award in Continuing Education"
*2007: IEEE MTT "Distinguished Educator" award
*2024: IEEE MTT "Career Award"