4 Most Influential Electronics Engineers

Electronics engineering is one of the major disciplines of engineering and is currently one of the largest producers of engineers around the world. Its beginnings root way back to the 19th century with the onset of the radio and the telephone industries. The term was officially recognised in the 1950’s.

The term itself covers a variety of subfields, such as embedded systems, digital electronics, power electronics etc. Professionals who work in electronics engineering are proficient in a range of subjects, such as physics, mathematics, and other fundamental disciplines. They work in the fields of radio engineering, electric power control, robotics, telecommunications and more.

What are the names that really raised the bar in the field of electrical engineering?

1. Steve Wozniak

Steve “Woz” Wozniak, known as a computer wizard, was a man behind the creation of the first user friendly computer, a true invention – Apple I. Two old friends – Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs – founded Apple in 1976. It all started as a hobby, but the success of Apple I and later Apple II saw major growth of the company which later became one of the most treasured and highly valued companies in the world. A few years after the company was founded, Wozniak had a plane crash, and suffered a temporary memory loss because of it. This forced him to step back, just before company’s big boom. “I do not deal with what would have happened if he had remained. Would I have a better life? Who knows,” said Wozniak, who later founded even more successful companies.

2. Amar Bose

Right after WWII depressed his father’s business, Amar Bose started repairing radios in high school. Who would have thought back then what is yet to come from this young man. Later, when he was a student at MIT in the early 1950s, he was so disappointed by the highly rated record player, he devoted himself to improving the loudspeakers and to a further study of acoustics. After receiving his doctorate, he even started a research program in physical acoustic and psychoacoustics, leading to the development of patents in acoustics, electronics, nonlinear systems and communication theory. Amar Bose was a brilliant mind behind the founding of the audio technology company Bose Corporation, a name which spells supreme quality in the fields of acoustics and sound systems.

3. Edith Clarke

First female MIT electrical engineering graduate? Here she is – Edith Clarke. Not all came easy for a woman born in the late 19th century. But the determined young woman did not let societal expectations hinder her professional aspirations and went on to become one of the best known engineers of her era. Because she was a woman, she was unable to find work as an engineer but she persevered and eventually became an electrical engineer in the Central Station Engineering Department of General Electric and achieved considerable success with the company. She later became the first female professor of electrical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.

4. Jack Kilby

Want a room-sized computer? No? Well, Jack Kilby thought so as well. He is acknowledged as the father of modern computing. He integrated the circuit and the microchip, and changed the computer industry forever. The world of today is literally at the tip of our fingers, with integrated circuit and microchip meeting much of our daily needs and requirements. This small wonder has revolutionized the way electronic industry works and can be safely regarded as a historical discovery in computer technology. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, breaking the trend of recognizing only theoretical physicists, awarded half of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Physics to Kilby for his work as an applied physicist.