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James F. "Jim" Gibbons
Born(1931-09-19)September 19, 1931
Leavenworth, Kansas, United States
NationalityAmerican
Alma materStanford University
Northwestern University
AwardsIEEE Jack A. Morton Award (1980)
IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr. Education Medal (1985)
Paul Rappaport Award by the IEEE Electron Devices Society (1989)
IEEE Founders Medal (2011)
Scientific career
FieldsElectrical engineering
InstitutionsStanford University

James F. "Jim" Gibbons (born September 19, 1931) is an American professor and academic administrator. He is credited (together with William Shockley) with starting the semiconductor device fabrication laboratory at Stanford University that would propel it to be at the center of the semiconductor ecosystem that became the Silicon Valley.

James received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University in 1953 and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1956.[1] He joined the Stanford faculty in 1957, was appointed Professor of Electrical Engineering in 1964 and was named Reid Weaver Dennis Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford in 1983. He served as the Frederick Emmons Terman Dean of the School of Engineering from September 1984 to June 1996 and in 1995 was named Special Counsel to Stanford University President and Provost for Industry Relations.[2]

In 1972, James is credited for inventing Tutored Video Instruction, which is widely used at Stanford University, as part of its Stanford Instructional Television Network, and elsewhere for the continuing education of engineers. He has applied tutored video instruction to pressing social problems, including educating the children of migrant farm workers and teaching anger management to at-risk teens, primarily through SERA Learning Technologies, a company he founded. [3]

James has received many awards and was elected a member of the American Academy or Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and as a Fellow of the IEEE. He also served on committees advising the Presidential Science Advisor in the Nixon, Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations.

Early life[edit]

James F. Gibbons was born in Leavenworth, Kansas[1] on September 19, 1931 to Clifford and Mary Gibbons. His father was a guard at Leavenworth until James was about eight years old.[1] At that time, his father was transferred to a minimum security prison in Texarkana, Texas.[1] James spent his middle and high school years there, until he went off to college.[1]

Higher education[edit]

James left Texas to pursue his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering at Northwestern University chosen due to receiving a partial scholarship from Northwestern, Northwestern's proximity to Chicago and the jazz music scene there (James played trombone and was also pondering a possible musical career)[4], and also due to Northwestern's co-op requirement.[1] James co-oped at Tungstal, where he worked on vacuum tubes being used in televisions.[1] In 1953, after five years (due to the mandatory co-op), James finished his degree at Northwestern University. He also earned a National Science Foundation fellowship from his efforts at Northwestern, which was able to be used at any school across the United States.[4]

After discussions with his Northwestern advisor (who was the chairman of Electrical Engineering Department), James chose to accept admission to Stanford University for his advanced degree work.[4] At Stanford, James took a course titled "Transistors and Active Circuit Design.”, which was being taught by John Linvill, formerly of Bell Labs.[4] This course captivated James and he spent extra time with John, leading John to convince James that he should stay at Stanford and earn a Ph.D.[4] James did just that and his Ph.D. thesis was on a methodology for transistor circuit design that would utilize feedback to mitigate the variations between transistors of that time.[4] Based on his efforts at Stanford, James was awarded a Fulbright scholarship, which he utilized at Cambridge University to work on grain boundaries in magnetic materials.[4]

Academic career[edit]

After completing his work at Cambridge, James was considering several job opportunities when John Linvill again interceded.[4] John convinced James to consider a hybrid position where he would work 50% at Shockley Semiconductor in order to learn semiconductor fabrication techniques from William Shockley and the other 50% as an assistant professor at Stanford, setting up a laboratory to fabricate semiconductors and teaching the techniques to Stanford Ph.D. students.

On August 1, 1957, James joined the Stanford faculty and began his work with Shockley.[4] Six months later, James' lab at Stanford produced its first silicon device.[4] After presenting a conference paper on their results, the Stanford semiconductor fabrication lab became the cornerstone upon which John Linvill and Stanford built a solid-state electronics laboratory and attracted to Stanford some of the leading people in the burgeoning field of semiconductors, including persons such as Gerald Pearson and John Moll.[4]

Stanford named James as a professor of Electrical Engineering in 1964.[5] After 20 years of distinguished work, Stanford appointed James as dean of the School of Engineering in September 1984, a postion which he held until June 1996.[5] In 1995, James was appointed as special counsel to the Stanford University President and Provost for Industry Relations at Stanford University.[2]

Industry leadership[edit]

  • He served on the Board of Directors of
    • SRI International
    • Raychem
    • Cisco Systems
    • Lockheed-Martin

Awards and honors[edit]

  • He was awarded the IEEE Jack A. Morton Award in 1980 for his outstanding contributions in the field of solid-state devices.[6]
  • He was awarded the IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr. Education Medal (formerly the IEEE Education Medal) in 1985 for his contributions to the vitality, imagination, and leadership of the members of the engineering profession.[7]
  • He was awarded the IEEE Founders Medal in 2011 for his outstanding contributions in the leadership, planning, and administration of affairs of great value to the electrical and electronics engineering profession.[6]
  • He was awarded the Millennium Medal by the IEEE Electron Devices Society for his outstanding contributions.[8]
  • He was awarded the Paul Rappaport Award by the IEEE Electron Devices Society in 1989 for co-authoring "Bandgap and Transport Properties of Si1-xGex by Analysis of Nearly Ideal Si/Si1-xGex/Si Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors T-ED/ED-36/10".[9]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g David Morton (May 31, 2000). "An Oral History of James F. Gibbons". IEEE History Center.
  2. ^ a b "Engineering dean to take on new industrial relations role". Stanford University News Service. March 8, 1995.
  3. ^ Kathleen O'Toole (April 28, 1999). "Video lessons may help cool kids' rage". Stanford University.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harry Sello (November 16, 2012). "Oral History of James F. "Jim" Gibbons" (PDF). Computer History Museum.
  5. ^ a b "History of the School of Engineering". Stanford University.
  6. ^ a b "Complete list of IEEE-Level Award Recipients and Citations" (PDF).
  7. ^ "Complete list of IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr. Education Medal recipients (PDF, 96 KB)" (PDF).
  8. ^ "List of IEEE Millennium Medal Recipients".
  9. ^ "List of Paul Rappaport Award Recipients".

External links[edit]



Category:American engineers Category:American academics Category:Northwestern University alumni Category:Stanford University alumni Category:Stanford University School of Engineering faculty Category:1931 births Category:Fellow Members of the IEEE