In Memoria

Robert C. Smythe – industry leader, researcher, IEEE Fellow and Cady Award winner 1929 – 2004 The Quartz Crystal Industry lost one of its leaders and mentors with the death of Robert Chastain Smythe, on April 13, 2004. He was actively involved in both Industry and Academia for over 40 years. In 1991 he was presented the W. G. Cady Award, “For contributions to the development of single and dual mode quartz resonators for filter applications.” He was made a Fellow of the IEEE (UFFC), in 1997. Bob Smythe was born on August 28, 1929, in Orlando, Florida, where he lived for almost his entire life. He received a BA degree in 1952 and a BSEE degree in 1953, both from Rice University. After working for Hazeltine Corporation for a short time, he joined the U.S. Army, where he served for two years, as an Instructor, fire control radar. Upon leaving the Army in 1956, he resumed his education at the University of Florida, where he received an MSEE degree in 1957. In 1956 he joined Systems, Inc., the predecessor of Piezo Technology Inc., (PTI). He was one of the founders of PTI, in Orlando, Florida, in 1965. Bob Smythe’s long career at PTI was characterized by his prolific and significant contributions to the advancement of the theoretical and practical aspects of frequency control devices. He was the author of over 60 papers on resonators and resonator theory. He was also co-author of a textbook on piezoelectric devices and filters and held several patents. He had many other ideas worthy of patent recognition and was unstinting in his willingness to share his knowledge with, and offer advice to anyone working in the field of frequency control. Colleagues in the industry considered him a generous, accessible and rare repository of wisdom and knowledge. Bob’s generosity was reflected in his continuing involvement at Rice University, where he was an active alumnus and for which institution he had a great affection. He also contributed his time to serve the frequency control profession through his many years of service on the program committee of the IEEE Frequency Control Symposium, and on IEEE standards committees. His first PTI assignment was to establish the design of VHF coupled mode crystal filters – devices that are used at the front end of a radio receiver to protect against intermodulation distortion and cross talk. Several of his designs from that time are still in production at PTI. During the hectic early years of growing his young company, he showed his commitment to gaining understanding in his chosen field by completing most of the course work for a doctorate in 1964-1966 at the University of Florida. He directed a team that improved the producibility of coupled mode quartz resonators to the level where they became practical and efficient building blocks in the realization of complex filters. He was involved in all activities, from writing software for the design of coupled mode resonators, to designing production equipment necessary to produce the parts in high volume. Using the resulting technology, the production of coupled mode resonators increased to over 30,000 units per day. Particularly significant advances were made in the computerized test and measurement of resonators and filters using network analyzers. Later Bob moved on to study the fundamental properties of crystal resonators. He had a particular interest in the measurement, characterization and causes of intermodulation distortion, drive level sensitivity, phase noise and acceleration-sensitivity. He worked tirelessly to expand the range and capabilities of the company’s products, from highly stable doubly rotated quartz crystal standards to high frequency fundamental mode resonators and filters. Most recently, until his unfortunate illness, he was working on the measurement and characterization of the fundamental properties of the LGx family of piezoelectric materials. Bob will be missed by his colleagues at PTI and his friends across the world, particularly those from our industry.

It is with great sadness that the international ferroelectrics community bids farewell to Professor Lev Shuvalov who died in Moscow in December 2004 in his eighty-first year. Lev Alexandrovitch, as he was affectionately known to his Russian and non-Russian friends, was one of the world’s leading scientists in ferroelectrics and related materials. Over a long and productive life, he was a pioneer in many of the most important developments in the field of ferroelectricity and phase transitions. Lev Shuvalov’s international reputation was first established in the 1950s and 1960s for his classical work on the crystal symmetry and classification of ferroelectrics. Some of us will remember the brilliant paper on the topic that he delivered at the 2nd International Meeting on Ferroelectricity held in Kyoto, Japan in 1969. This basic approach allowed him in the 1970s and 1980s to make important fundamental studies of the changes in symmetry that occur at phase transitions in ferroelectric, ferroelastic and ferromagnetic materials. This pioneering work in turn led to his fundamental studies of domains in both classical ferroelectrics and ferroelastics. During his long and successful career at the Institute of Crystallography in Moscow, where for more than 20 years he headed the Laboratory of Phase Transitions, Professor Shuvalov made major contributions in many other areas. They included the discovery of ferroelectricity in trihydrogen selenites and sulphates, extensive studies of bulk and surface waves in piezoelectrics, fundamental work on TGS pyroelectric vidicons and the discovery and characterization of a new family of superprotonic conductors. Lev Aleksandrov was equally at home in the theory, experimental studies and applications of ferroelectrics and related materials. He saw the big picture and successfully led and inspired colleagues and young scientists. He wrote more than 700 papers and had 20 patents. Professor Lev Shuvalov lived through turbulent times. His courage and strength of personality, his intelligence, his hard work and his unfailing optimism led to his great successes. As a young man in the Second World War, Lev Shuvalov fought at the Battles of Moscow, Kursk, and Stalingrad and was awarded the Medal of Valor and the Order of the Red Star. He graduated in Physics in 1951 from Moscow State University and subsequently obtained his Candidate and Doctoral degrees under the supervision of the famous crystallographer, Professor A.V. Shubnikov. Later in his career Lev Aleksandrovitch was awarded the State Prize of the USSR and the Federov Prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences for his work on phase transitions, ferroelastics, and domains and the Prize in Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Professor Shuvalov was a founding Member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal FERROELECTRICS. He served with much distinction over 34 years andwas Guest Editor for many special issues of the journal. Lev Aleksandrovitch was to me, a source of great advice and inspiration on editorial matters, which I will sorely miss. In addition to his work with the journal FERROELECTRICS, Lev was the Editor in Chief of the journal KRISTALLOGRAFIYA, Associate Editor of FERROELECTRICS LETTERS and on the Editorial Board of ZEITSCHRIFT FUR KRISTALLOGRAPHIE and CRYSTALLOGRAPHY REVIEWS. In Russia, Lev Aleksandrov was Vice Chairman of the Ferroelectrics and Dielectrics Section of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He represented Russia on the International and the European Advisory Committees on Ferroelectrics, and the bilateral Russian–American Symposium and the bilateral Russian–Japanese Symposium on Ferroelectricity. Professor Shuvalov established excellent scientific relationships in many countries, including Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Ukraine, and USA. The international ferroelectrics community has always had a great admiration for Lev Shuvalov’s scientific achievements and respect and affection for him as a man. The papers and personal tributes in the special volume of FERROELECTRICS (Volumes 97 and 98) published in 1989 to honor his 65th birthday bear witness to this. All of us fortunate enough to have known and worked with him will greatly miss him. George W. Taylor Princeton, New Jersey, USA June 2005
George W. Taylor, “Obituary: Lev A. Shuvalov (1923-2004)”, Ferroelectrics, Volume 322, pp. 1-2 (2005). (Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd, http://www.informaworld.com, reprinted by permission of the publisher)

Virgil Eldon Bottom – educator, researcher, mentor 1911 – 2003 Dr. Virgil Eldon Bottom, born January 6, 1911 in Butler County, Kansas, died Thursday, October 30, 2003 at Sears Nursing Home in Abilene. Most of his life was devoted to teaching. He taught Mathematics and Physics at Friends University, Wichita, Kansas, at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado and at McMurry College, Abilene, Texas where he was Chairman of the Department of Physics. In 1931 he received his AB degree in Mathematics at Friends University and his MS degree from University of Michigan in 1938. He received his Ph.D. in physics from Purdue University in 1949. In 1983, he was granted Doctor of Science by McMurry College. In addition to his science teaching, Dr. Bottom was a Bible teacher who loved to interpret the Holy Scriptures for Sunday school classes. In 1964-65 he was a Fulbright lecturer in Brazil. After retiring from McMurry College in 1973, he continued his activity in the field on Piezoelectricity by presenting tutorial seminars, consulting and writing a text book, “Introduction to Quartz Crystal Unit Design.” Dr. Bottom was a recognized authority in the field of Piezoelectricity and lectured widely in the United States and abroad on the subject. For his contributions to the field, he was given the Cady Award, the Sawyer Award, and the Certificate of Service by the Signal Corps engineering Laboratory. Twenty of his students are, or have been, active in the same field. In 1987 he received the Staff Award from the West Texas Rehabilitation Center for his 25 years of service there. Survivors include three sons, Eldon Bottom and wife Arliss of Bedford, Texas, Dr. Paul Bottom and wife Cathy of Grant, Nebraska and Kenneth Bottom and wife Dorothy of Bryan, Texas; ten grandchildren; and 19 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his loving wife, Thelma, who died January 29, 1995. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Sears Methodist Center, 3202 South Willis, Abilene, Texas 79605 or to the West Texas Rehabilitation Center, 4601 Hartford, Abilene, Texas 79605.

James A. Barnes – Pioneer in the Statistics of Frequency Standards 1933 – 2002 Jim Barnes died Sunday, January 13, 2002 in Boulder, Colorado after a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease. Jim was born in 1933 in Denver, Colorado. He received a Bachelors degree in engineering physics from the University of Colorado, a Masters degree from Stanford University, and in 1966 a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Colorado. Jim also received an MBA from the University of Denver. After graduating from Stanford Jim joined the National Bureau of Standards, now the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Jim was the first Chief of the Time and Frequency Division when it was created in 1967 and set the direction for this division in his 15 years of leadership. During his tenure at NIST Jim made many significant contributions to the development of statistical tools for clocks and frequency standards, Also, three primary frequency standards (NBS 4, 5 and 6) were developed under his leadership. While division chief, closed-captioning was developed (which received an Emmy award) and the speed of light was measured. Jim received the NBS Silver Medal in 1965 and the Gold Medal in 1975. In 1992 Jim received the Rabi Award from the IEEE Frequency Control Symposium and in 1995 the Distinguished PTTI Service Award. Jim was a Fellow of the IEEE. After retiring from NIST in 1982 Jim worked for Austron. Jim is survived by a brother, three children, and two grandchildren.

Alan Selfridge performed pioneering work on ultrasonic array design and optimization at the E. L. Ginzton Laboratory at Stanford under the supervision of Prof. G. S. Kino. Shortly after completing his Ph.D. Alan collected an immense and valuable set of acoustic material parameters that was later published in the IEEE Trans. Sonics and Ultrasonics (later Trans. UFFC). The data in this article was developed over successive years to become the single most valuable collection of material parameter information for the ultrasonic transducer design community. Alan’s table of acoustic material parameters forms the foundation of the table of acoustic material parameters to be published on the UFFC website. Alan Robert Selfridge was born Feb. 27, 1954 in Midland, Michigan, just twenty minutes after his fraternal twin brother Rohn. In 1958 the family moved to Citrus Heights, Calif. where Alan’s father Robert worked on solid fuel rocket propellants for Aerojet General. Alan graduated from San Juan High School in 1972, and subsequently from UC Davis with an emphasis on pre-med subjects. In 1976 Alan began his doctoral studies in electrical engineering at Stanford, with an emphasis on ultrasonic physics. He received a Ph.D. in 1983 and began his consulting business, Ultrasonic Devices Inc., from his home in Palo Alto. In 1983, Alan bought a beautiful piece of land in the redwoods of the Santa Cruz mountains, with an old house and barn on the property. He also purchased Specialty Engineering Associates (SEA,) then located in Milpitas, Calif. to complement and expand his consulting business. In 1988, Alan and Peggy Johnson began their loving relationship, and their daughter Julia Maria Selfridge was born on May 9, 1989. Alan and family moved to the mountain land shortly before the birth of Aaron Rohn Selfridge on June 8, 1993. Alan and Peggy were married on August 24, 1996 at the Skyland Church. Peter Goetz, his good friend, joined SEA as Alan’s business partner in 1995. In the summer of 1996, Alan bought a large warehouse in Soquel, Calif., into which the company moved late in 1996. Alan was a man of incredible energy. His perfect workday began with a morning spent in his mountain studio programming, consulting, developing, and testing acoustic devices for medical and other industrial applications. He held a number of patents on various ultrasonic concepts, and his work has impacted people throughout the world. Professionally he was widely noted for his brililance and his technical achievements in the physics of ultrasonic transducer design and measurement, as well as his folksy nature and his ability to make the difficult seem easy.
He loved to spend afternoons working on the property, putting in trails, managing his extensive water system, building a spiral staircase up a redwood tree, and running with Peggy. Alan loved the mountain and seldom had a desire to leave it. Because he worked primarily at home, he was present and supportive to Peggy, Julia, and Aaron to an extraordinary extent. We will miss him.

Jerry R. Norton – Spacecraft Oscillator Designer 1938 – 2001 Jerry R. Norton, a spacecraft oscillator designer at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Laurel, Md., died Oct. 30, 2001 from injuries sustained in the crash of an experimental plane near Westminster, Md. He was 63. Born in Otto, N.C., he was a resident of Marriottsville, Md. He accumulated two years of undergraduate credits from Duke University in 1956 and 1957 and earned an associate in applied science degree from Capitol Radio Engineering Institute, Washington, D.C., in 1960.
Mr. Norton joined APL in 1961 as a senior electronic technician and was soon promoted to an engineer. His early work centered around development of receiver systems for the Transit navigation satellites that the Navy and commercial ships have used since 1958. He developed the RF (radio frequency) portion of a low-cost receiver for Transit and was responsible for the electrical design, mechanical packaging and final checkout and test. He was a specialist in the development of ultra-stable oscillators used for spacecraft navigation, timekeeping, and radio science experiments on unmanned scientific satellites. Mr. Norton led a team that designed and built a precision quartz oscillator for radio science experiments conducted by the Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical Science’s mission to Mars. The quality and importance of Mr. Norton’s contributions together with those of his colleagues in the field of ultra-stable oscillator technology led NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to state in 1998 that “APL is the only credible source for oscillators when cutting-edge performance is needed.” A senior engineer in APL’s Space Department, he held a patent on a navigational receiver and also served on the Technical Program Committee of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers – International Frequency Control Symposium. Mr. Norton and fellow APL co-worker, Jim Cloeren, built and co-owned the 1999 Titan Tornado II, two-seat, single-engine aircraft they were flying at the time of the accident. Mr. Norton was an avid gardener and enjoyed amateur photography. Mr. Norton is survived by his wife, Ann; three daughters, Maria Lawall of Laurel, Md., Donna Norton of Marriottsville, Md., Tina Norton of Germantown, Md.; and four grandchildren.

James M. Cloeren – Spacecraft Oscillator Designer 1934 – 2001 James M. Cloeren, a spacecraft oscillator designer at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Laurel, Md., died Oct. 30, 2001 from injuries sustained in the crash of an experimental plane near Westminster, Md. He was 67. Born in Darby, Pa., he was a resident of Westminster, Md. Mr. Cloeren served in the Navy from 1952 – 1956 as an electronic technician and earned an associate in arts degree from Montgomery College, Rockville, Md., in 1963. He worked for Tracor, Inc. (formerly Sulzer Labs, Inc.) from 1956 – 1967 where he was responsible for designing and manufacturing crystal oscillators and clocks. From 1967 – 1975 he worked for Austron, Inc. and managed their Washington, D.C. division with responsibility for its time and frequency products. He spent the next three years at T. E. Corporation working with time/frequency and navigation products for the scientific and military communities. At Satellite Navigation Systems, Inc., he served as the vice president for manufacturing from 1977 – 1981. He spent a year at Advanced Navigation, Inc., as vice president for manufacturing. Mr. Cloeren joined APL in 1982. He was a specialist in the development of ultra-stable oscillators used for spacecraft navigation, timekeeping, and radio science experiments on unmanned scientific satellites. As systems engineer he led the team that designed and built the precision quartz oscillator for radio science measurements to be conducted by the CASSINI mission to Saturn. A testimony to his work is illustrated by a quote from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who described the CASSINI oscillator as the “finest in the solar system.” A senior engineer at APL, at the time of his death, Mr. Cloeren was a section supervisor in APL’s Space Department and also served on the Technical Program Committee of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers – International Frequency Control Symposium. Mr. Cloeren and fellow APL co-worker, Jerry Norton, built and co-owned the 1999 Titan Tornado II, two-seat, single-engine aircraft they were flying at the time of the accident. Mr. Cloeren is survived by his wife, LaHoma; a daughter, Cathy of Boca Raton, Fla., a sister, JoAnn Raeder of Laurel, Md., and three grandchildren. His son, David, predeceased him in September, 2001.

Herbert P. Stratemeyer – A Pioneer in Quartz and Atomic Frequency Standards 1931-2001 The frequency control community lost one of its pioneers in the field of quartz oscillators and rubidium atomic clocks when Herbert P. Stratemeyer died on November 20, 2001. Herb was born in 1931 in Mainz, Germany. Although too young to have participated actively in World War II, he nevertheless suffered along with the rest of the civilian population in its later days and aftermath. He received a Diplom Physik degree from the University of Mainz in 1954. During that time, he participated in early single sideband amateur radio experiments with Art Collins and others. Herb began his career in frequency control in the quartz crystal industry in England. In 1954 he immigrated to the United States to accept a position as a Development Engineer at the General Radio Company in Cambridge Massachusetts. At that time, General Radio was the leading manufacturer of electronic instruments. He worked on quartz frequency standards and quartz crystals for filter applications. His first solid-state oscillator, the Model 1115, set new performance standards for low phase noise. Herb Stratemeyer became a U.S. citizen in 1962. In the early 1960’s, Herb’s work turned to atomic clocks, specifically rubidium atomic frequency standards that were just becoming commercially available. Much basic investigation was necessary to develop these devices into practical products, and to devise the processes necessary for manufacturing their lamps and cells. His other contributions included work on frequency synthesizers and quartz crystal measuring systems. The emphasis on rubidium frequency standards at General Radio soon shifted to military and space units. One such device was the NASA Spacecraft Atomic Timing System (SATS), which was the first rubidium clock developed and qualified for space. Another was the physics package for the Collins AFS-81 ruggedized rubidium frequency standard (RFS) used for many years by the U.S. Navy in the Verdin VLF communications system. Other projects included RFS designs for missile and tactical aircraft applications. Preliminary work was also done on rubidium clocks for the GPS program. Many of those units had performance equal to or better than most such devices today (although they were much larger and more expensive). In particular, the work at General Radio led to the eventual development of the ultra-stable rubidium clocks used in the Block IIR and IIF GPS satellites. Herb retired from General Radio (then GenRad) in 1975, but continued to consult in the field of atomic clocks at EG&G in the early 1980’s. During his retirement, he became a computer “guru” in the 1980’s and 1990’s. His other interests included gunsmithing, hunting and photography. Herb was an active participant in the frequency control community, regularly attending the Frequency Control Symposium during the Atlantic City era, and contributing to the watershed 1964 IEEE-NASA Symposium on Short-Term Frequency Stability. He was also a loyal IRE/IEEE member. Throughout his career, Herb was a mentor to the next generation of “clock engineers”, sharing both his knowledge and work ethic. Herb was an “engineer’s engineer”, displaying exceptional technical judgment and keen insight directed toward making things work. He was a man of great intellect with many talents who excelled in whatever he did. He was also a man of great professional and personal integrity who had a positive influence on all the people and programs he worked with. Those of us whose lives he touched will miss him greatly.

Robin P. Giffard – Innovator and Architect of Atomic Frequency Standards 1941-2001 The time and frequency control community lost one of its most innovative leaders on Sunday, May 6, 2001, when Robin Giffard died while hiking in the Palo Alto, California area. Dr. Giffard was born on February 6th, 1941, in Shrewsbury, U.K. He received a B.A. Physics (1st Class Honors), M.A. Physics, and D-Phil, all from the University of Oxford. His doctoral work was done at the Carendon Laboratory Oxford University and addressed measurement problems in the study of nuclear magnetism at low temperatures. Following his work at Oxford, Robin also held positions at UC San Diego, Clarendon Laboratories Oxford, and Stanford University. During this period his work included studies on cryogenic gravitational wave detectors, noise thermometry at ultra-low temperatures, and SQUID-Magnetometers. In 1980 Robin joined the technical staff at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories (now Agilent Laboratories). At the time of his death, Robin was the Department Scientist for the Precision Instrumentation Laboratory. His specialties included: low noise electronics, atomic frequency standards, time-transfer using GPS, high-stability oscillators, digital filtering, and measurement techniques. While at Agilent, Robin was heavily involved in the development and design of the Mercury Ion standard, and was one of the principal architects and designers of the Agilent 5071A Primary Frequency Standard. In recent years, his work involved development of time-transfer techniques that are effective over wide areas using GPS SPS. Working with other scientists at NIST and USNO, Robin was the principal investigator of the limitations, including ionospheric effects, on the ability to achieve wide-area time synchronization over continental distances. For his work on atomic frequency standards, Robin shared the AIP Industrial Physics Award with his colleagues Dr. Len Cutler, and Dr. Curt Flory. He was also the co-winner of 3 IR&D 100 awards. He was the inventor or co-inventor on 6 US patents. Robin authored or co-authored over 55 technical papers and review articles. Robin was active in both the IEEE and ION as a frequent contributor to technical symposia in both organizations. Robin was also a member of the Technical Program Committee of the IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium. Robin is survived by his wife Rona, two children, a brother and a sister. Those who worked with Robin will remember him as a quiet, gentle man with a dry British sense of humor, and outstanding technical brilliance.

Daniel J. Healey III – A Pioneer in Low Noise Radar Exciter Technology 1922-2000 The time and frequency control community lost one of its pioneers on November 24, 2000 when Daniel Healey passed away. Dan made many important contributions to the design and understanding of low noise oscillators as well as to low noise radar exciter technology. He will be missed by his friends and colleagues.
Dan was born in Baltimore, Maryland on November 9, 1922. He received the Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering with honors from Johns Hopkins University in 1947, following a two-year interruption to his studies when he served in the U.S. Naval Reserve as an electronics technician. He did graduate study at Johns Hopkins from 1949 to 1954. In 1947 he joined the Westinghouse Defense Center in Baltimore Maryland. He retired from Westinghouse in the mid-1980’s as an Advisory Engineer. For most of his career, he was engaged in the design and development of stable frequency sources for airborne radar applications. The mechanization of the AWACS STALO, exhibiting state-of-the-art spectral purity, serves as one of many tributes to Dan’s inventiveness and expertise. Over the past several years, very successful techniques have been developed for oscillator noise reduction involving carrier-nulling as a means for enhancing signal noise side-band level and detectability. A technical paper by Dan Healey and Dan Buck given at a 1964 IEEE-NASA Symposium on Short-Term Frequency Stability describes their successful use of the same technique for use in measurement apparatus over 36 years ago! According to Mike Driscoll, who worked with Dan on a variety of projects at Westinghouse for many years beginning in 1966, everyone who worked with Dan directly or knew of his work acknowledged the depth and breadth of his technical expertise. Mike has stated that his initial work assignments with Dan constituted invaluable learning experiences.