Oliver Ellsworth Buckley Explained

Oliver E. Buckley
Office:Chairman of the President's Science Advisory Committee
President:Harry S. Truman
Term Start:April 20, 1951
Term End:June 15, 1952
Predecessor:Position established
Successor:Lee Alvin DuBridge
Birth Date:8 August 1887
Birth Place:Sloan, Iowa, U.S.
Death Place:Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Education:Grinnell College (BS)
Cornell University (MS, PhD)

Oliver Ellsworth Buckley (August 8, 1887 – December 14, 1959) was an American electrical engineer known for his contributions to the field of submarine telephony.

Biography

Buckley was an undergraduate at Grinnell College until 1909.[1] He joined the Bell System after completing his PhD in physics at Cornell University in 1914. In 1915, Buckley, along with AT&T coworkers H. D. Arnold and Gustav Elmen, developed a method of substantially improving the transmission performance of submarine communications cable so that transmission speed of over 2000 letters per minute were achieved.[2] They constructed the cable by wrapping the copper conductors with annealed permalloy tape, a material that Elmen had discovered, thus inductively loading the cable.

Buckley was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1937,[3] the American Philosophical Society in 1942,[4] and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1949.[5]

Buckley was the president of Bell Labs from 1940 to 1951, and chairman of the board from 1951 until his retirement in 1952.[6]

Buckley was a member of the General Advisory Committee of the United States Atomic Energy Commission from 1948 to 1954.[7] In that role, Buckley opposed the 1950 decision to proceed with the development of the hydrogen bomb, but by 1952 had changed his view and supported the program.[8]

Buckley received the IEEE Edison Medal for "contributions to the science and art which have made possible a transatlantic telephone cable; for wise leadership of a great industrial laboratory; for outstanding services to the government of his country". The Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize is named in his honor.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Notable Alumni Grinnell College . 2022-10-28 . www.grinnell.edu.
  2. A. A. Hurdeman, The Worldwide History of Telecommunications, Wiley Interscience (2003), p.314
  3. Web site: Oliver Buckley . 2023-04-21 . www.nasonline.org.
  4. Web site: APS Member History . 2023-04-21 . search.amphilsoc.org.
  5. Web site: Oliver Ellsworth Buckley . 2023-04-21 . American Academy of Arts & Sciences . 9 February 2023 . en.
  6. http://bell-labs.com/about/presidents/oliver-e-buckley/ Buckley biography by Bell Labs
  7. Web site: Oliver Buckley: Biography . 11 February 2016 . Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers . May 27, 2020.
  8. Crossing the Rubicon: A Missed Opportunity to Stop the H-Bomb? . Barton J. . Bernstein . International Security . 14 . 2 . Fall 1987 . 147–148.