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Search - List of Books by John R. Pierce

John Robinson Pierce (March 27, 1910 — April 2, 2002), was an American engineer and author. He worked extensively in the fields of radio communication, microwave technology, computer music, psychoacoustics, and science fiction. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, he earned his Ph.D. from Caltech, and died in Sunnyvale, California.

He wrote on electronics and information theory, and developed jointly the concept of Pulse code modulation (PCM) with his Bell Labs colleagues Barney Oliver and Claude Shannon. He supervised the Bell Labs team which built the first transistor, and at the request of one of them, Walter Brattain, coined the term transistor; he recalled:

Pierce's early work at Bell Labs was on vacuum tubes of all sorts. During World War II he discovered the work of Rudolf Kompfner in a British radar lab, where he had invented the traveling-wave tube; Pierce worked out the math for this broadband amplifier device, and wrote a book about it, after hiring Kompfner for Bell Labs. He later recounted that "Rudy Kompfner invented the traveling-wave tube, but I discovered it." According to Kompfner's book, the statement "Rudi invented the traveling-wave tube, and John discovered it" was due to Dr. Eugene G. Fubini, quoted in The New Yorker "Profile" on Pierce, September 21, 1963.

Pierce is widely credited for saying "Nature abhors a vacuum tube", but Pierce attributed that quip to Myron Glass [1]. Others say that quip was "commonly heard at the Bell Laboratories prior to the invention of the transistor."

Other famous Pierce quips are "Artificial intelligence is real stupidity", "I thought of it the first time I saw it", and "After growing wildly for years, the field of computing appears to be reaching its infancy."

He did significant research into satellites, including an important leadership role (as executive director of Bell’s Research-Communications Principles Divisionin the development of the first commercial communications satellite, Telstar 1.In fact, although Arthur C. Clarke was the first to propose geostationary communications satellites, Pierce seems to have arrived at the idea independently and may have been the first to discuss unmanned communications satellites. Clarke himself characterized Pierce as "one of the two fathers of the communications satellite" (along with Harold Rosen). See ECHO - America's First Communications Satellite (reprinted from SMEC Vintage Electrics Volume 2 #1) for some details on his original contributions.

Life After Bell Labs   more

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This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "John R. Pierce", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
Total Books: 13
Almost All About Waves
2006 - Almost All About Waves [Dover Books on Physics] (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780486453026
ISBN-10: 0486453022
Genres: Science & Math, Engineering & Transportation
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Yellow Jack  How Yellow Fever Ravaged America and Walter Reed Discovered Its Deadly Secrets
Klang Musik mit den Ohren der Physik
1999 - Klang Musik Mit Den Ohren Der Physik [German Edition] (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9783827405449
ISBN-10: 3827405440
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Information Tech  Civilizatio Their Sensory Evaluatio
1984 - Information Tech Civilizatio Their Sensory Evaluatio (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780716715153
ISBN-10: 0716715155
Genres: Computers & Technology, Nonfiction
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Introduction to Communication Science and Systems
1980 - Introduction to Communication Science and Systems [Applications of Communications Theory] (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9780306404924
ISBN-10: 0306404923
Genres: Computers & Technology, Engineering & Transportation
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Almost All About Waves
1976 - Almost All About Waves (Paperback)Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780262660273
ISBN-10: 026266027X
Genre: Science & Math
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Almost All About Waves
1974 - Almost All About Waves (Hardcover)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9780262160551
ISBN-10: 0262160552
Genre: Science & Math
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Quantum Electronics and Waves and Messages
1972 - Quantum Electronics and Waves and Messages [Science Study] (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780435550615
ISBN-10: 0435550616
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The Technology of Computer Music
1969 - The Technology of Computer Music (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9780262130509
ISBN-10: 0262130505
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Electrons and Waves
Electrons and Waves [Sci. Study S] (Hardcover)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9780435550516
ISBN-10: 0435550519
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Electrons and Waves
Electrons and Waves [Sci. Study S] (Paperback)Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780435550523
ISBN-10: 0435550527
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Signals The Telephone and Beyond
Signals the Telephone and Beyond (Hardcover)Paperback
ISBN-13: 9780716713111
ISBN-10: 071671311X
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Signals The Telephone and Beyond
Signals the Telephone and Beyond (Paperback)Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780716713364
ISBN-10: 0716713365
Genre: Engineering & Transportation
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