In Memoria

David Picton Morgan, IEEE Senior Life Member, was born in Essex, England in 1941 during the throes of WW2. After graduating in physics from St Catherine’s college, Cambridge University in 1962 he conducted research on Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) devices at University College, London, gaining his MSc in 1966 and PhD in 1969. He spent the year from 1970 to 1971 at Nippon Electric in Japan, and 1971 to 1977 at Edinburgh University, Scotland, again researching SAW devices. In 1977 he joined the Plessey company, Caswell, Northamptonshire, England. At Plessey he led the team developing SAW devices for both civilian and military applications. During this time he developed the theory of SAW transduction and was encouraged to write a text book on the theory and practice of SAW devices which has become a classic in the field. This was published in 1985 while a second edition appeared in 2008. David spent almost his entire career in SAW devices, forming the company “Impulse Consulting” after the inexplicable closure of Plessey’s SAW research activity in 1986. For the rest of his life David consulted on SAW devices for numerous companies worldwide, and was widely respected as an International expert, enthusiast, and teacher and lecturer on the subject. As well as writing his book, David developed extensive software modelling suites and continued to publish his findings regularly, with a total of 100 publications and 4 patents. He died at his home in Northampton on 10th March 2010 of lymphoma, still actively engaged on his beloved SAW devices and with plans for future international collaborations. More details of David’s work:
The existence of Surface Acoustic Waves on solids was first proved theoretically by Lord Rayleigh (also from Essex, England) in 1885. However it was not until the 1960’s that the efficient and selective generation of SAW on piezoelectric crystals was demonstrated and analysed by workers in Berkeley and Stanford Universities in California. There followed an explosion of interest worldwide in such devices and their applications. David’s introduction to the subject came from his research on dispersive delay lines for use in radar under Dr Eric Ash at University College, London. David was the first westerner to work at Nippon Electric in Japan, where he initiated a research programme into the modelling and fabrication of interdigital SAW devices. At Edinburgh University David worked as Research Fellow with Professor Jeff Collins on various aspects of signal processing using SAW devices and developed an early SAW convolver for use as a programmable matched filter. David (like the rest of the SAW community) was always keen on publishing the virtues of analogue SAW devices in the face of growing digital competition. In 1976 he edited “Key papers on Surface Acoustic Wave Passive Interdigital Devices”, IEE REPRINT SERIES 2. (ISBN:0 901223 82 4.) which contains sections describing his own work in Edinburgh.
In 1977 David joined the Plessey research centre at Caswell, Northamptonshire, in a team that at various times included Bob Milsom, John Deacon, and other SAW notables. At Plessey David worked on the theory of SAW transduction including the detailed behaviour of the charge distribution in interdigital transducers and its effect on harmonic responses. The devices investigated included bandpass filters, especially commercial TV IF filters. We believe that Plessey was the first company in the world to manufacture such devices commercially and it later formed Signal Technology, a joint SAW company with Andersen Labs, USA. Another device that David developed was the SAW dispersive delay line for use in various Plessey radars, including the extremely-demanding nonlinear disperser required for the state-of-the-art Plessey AR3D radar. At this time Plessey was also part of the collaborative UK MOD SAW program run from RSRE, Malvern. David undertook such MOD-funded research on the SAW convolver, where he introduced a variant employing dispersive transducers, and also developed the theory of a 2-dimensional impulse response. David’s other principal achievement while at Plessey was publishing in 1985 his book which formed a succinct account of the growing breadth of interest and applications of SAW devices: “Surface-Wave Devices for Signal Processing” Elsevier, ISBN: 0-444-42511-X. This includes much of David’s own theoretical work and was translated into Russian in 1990 by Sergei Zhgoon. It remained the classic work in the field until its recent second edition: “ Surface Acoustic Wave Filters” Elsevier 2008, ISBN: 978-0-1237-2537-0. David’s work at “Impulse Consulting” is, of course, commercially sensitive but he consulted widely and undertook lecturing tours in many countries including USA, Russia, China, Finland, Japan, Korea and Brazil, where his authority and personal qualities were always highly regarded. In 1992 David participated in the “International Symposium on SAW devices for mobile communications” a select meeting of SAW experts organised by the Japanese prior to the launch of SAW devices into the massive mobile communications market. During this time (1986-2010) he continued to publish his findings, often jointly with collaborators, and David had plans for at least two further international collaborations. David’s private life: In his private life David was an enthusiastic and experienced skier and, like so many physicists, David was an accomplished musician. He studied piano from the age of 7 and as a schoolboy had a scholarship to attend the Royal College of Music, where among several things he played timpani in the orchestra. He also sang tenor in a number of choirs and could sing difficult scores at sight. It was during his time at Cambridge that his interest in the organ began, each of the colleges having a fine organ in their chapels. Later he attended masterclasses with the internationally renowned organists Anton Heiller and Marie-Clare Alain, and had lessons with Flor Peeters. He obtained the Royal College of Music’s diploma in organ playing in 1964. He had played for services in several cathedrals including Ely, Peterborough and St David’s, and had given a number of solo recitals. David will be greatly missed by his sister, Helen and her family, numerous friends and colleagues in the UK and abroad, and his local church where he was organist.

Harry Peters, Hydrogen Maser Expert Harry Edward Peters, 87, died May 19, 2010 at the Hospice of West Alabama. Harry was an accomplished researcher, scientist, craftsman, and business owner and operator. Harry spent his youth in Rochester, MN, graduating from High School in 1941. He served in the United States Navy through both the Second World War and Korean Conflict with the rank of Chief Petty Officer before leaving the military with an honorable discharge. Harry then went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Physics from the University of Washington, graduating Magna Cum Laude and entering the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. His passion was for Hydrogen Masers from the very beginning, working with such notables as Dan Kleppner, Howard Berg, Stuart Crampton, Norman Ramsey and others. His early product-development career was at Varian Associates,(Beverly, MA) with Bob Vessot and Jacque Vanier and many others at Varian. Harry moved to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at Goddard ultimately guiding a program essential to tracking and timing for manned moon missions and deep space planetary probes. He continually worked on making the H-maser an ultra-stable, reliable frequency standard for a variety of field applications. He authored an array of papers on H-masers and received numerous awards. Retiring from NASA in 1975, Harry moved to Tuscaloosa, Al and a couple of years later started Sigma Tau Standards Corporation, a research and development firm dedicated to production of time and frequency standards. Under his leadership, Sigma Tau perfected experimental designs for extremely precise and stable clocks based on hydrogen. Several words describe working with Harry, but one described it best. He was ‘PROLIFIC.’ He was a product of by-gone days when every mechanical drawing was handmade. Every part handcrafted. And there were thousands of hand drawings and crafted parts (the archive at just NIST proves it). The numerous drawings leave a deep, favorable and lasting impression on anyone in this field. Another word to describe Harry would be ‘PERSISTENCE.’ Above many other attributes, Harry succeeded in bringing the exceptional stability of the H-maser to commercial availability through Sigma Tau Corporation essentially with his own personal investment. While it’s one thing to be involved in the development of a new and intricate technology, it is quite another to risk a business and reputation to manufacture, deliver, and support that technology. Harry persisted. His designs evolved into what many regard as the first field-operational masers that were commercially available to government organizations, measurement institutes, and research laboratories. He made his maser as small as possible, his being in the ‘full-size’ category (using a TE011 mode rf cavity). Key to success of the Sigma Tau maser was refinement of an innovative auto tuner to minimize frequency drift. Essential to national and international time measurement, Global Navigation Satellite Systems like GPS, and other high technology navigation systems, these clocks are recognized as the most stable ever manufactured. It was so much more stable and reliable than other frequency standards that its modest size became a non-issue. On that point, Harry wanted his H-masers to appear smaller to the point that he photographed his prototype alongside the tallest secretary he could find.
Those of us who new Harry Peters are saddened by his passing. We pay homage to our friend and colleague, while reveling in his enormous contributions. EULOGY TO HARRY PETERS by David Howe, NIST, at the IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium, 2 June 2010.

Robert Everest Newnham, (age 80) of State College, Pennsylvania, a resident of Foxdale Village, died at Hershey Medical Center on April 16, 2009. He was born March 28, 1929, in Amsterdam, New York, the son of the late William E. and Dorothy M. Hamm Newnham. On July 26, 1964, Bob married Patricia Friss Newnham, a nurse from E. Hartford, Connecticut, who survives. Bob and Pat had two children – a son, Randall E. Newnham of Reading, Pennsylvania, and a daughter – Rosemary E. Newnham of New York City. A graduate of four universities, Bob studied mathematics at Hartwick College (B.S., 1950), physics at Colorado State University (M.S., 1952), physics and mineralogy at Penn State (Ph.D., 1956) and crystallography at Cambridge University (Ph.D., 1960). Prior to joining the Penn State faculty in 1966, he was an I.C.I. Fellow at the Cavendish Laboratory of Cambridge University and taught in the Electrical Engineering Department of M.I.T. for 10 years. At Penn State, Bob taught courses on Crystal Physics, Crystal Chemistry, Electroceramics, Mineralogy, Gem Minerals, Biomaterials, X-ray Diffraction, and Crystal Structure Analysis. Widely known for his enthusiastic lectures and colorful illustrations, Bob was honored with the Outstanding Educator Award of the Ceramic Education Council, and the Wilson Teaching Prize of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. During his career, he delivered the Dow Lectures at Northwestern University, the Wolff Lecture at M.I.T., the McMahon Lecture at Alfred University, the Pond Lectures at Johns Hopkins, the Maddin Lecture at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Byron Short Lecture at the University of Texas. After retirement, Bob taught for two years at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Professor Newnham was active in several professional societies serving as Editor of the Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Secretary of the Materials Research Society, President of the American Crystallographic Association, and Distinguished Lecturer for the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. Among his many Awards was the Jeppson Medal, the E.C. Henry Award, the Bleininger Award, the David Kingery Award of the American Ceramic Society, the third Millennium Medal and Ultrasonics Achievement Award of the IEEE, the Centennial Award of the Japan Ceramics Society, the Turnbull Lecturer Award of the Materials Research Society, the Adaptive Structures Prize of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Benjamin Franklin Medal for Electrical Engineering from the Franklin Institute, and the Basic Research Award of the World Academy of Ceramics. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Bob Newnham wrote five books, more that 500 research papers and 20 patents on electroceramics and composite materials for electronic and acoustic applications. The composite piezoelectric transducers developed in his laboratory revolutionized the quality of ultrasound images in cardiology, obstetrics, and underwater sonar. Every major ultrasonics manufacturer in the world including several in central Pennsylvania use composite transducers based on his designs. His miniature flextensional transducers for hydrophone towed arrays is one Penn State’s most successful patents. They are widely used in underwater oil explorations and geophysical research. During the past forty years, Bob and his long-time colleague Eric Cross, built up one of the largest ferroelectrics research programs in the world. Together they pioneered a number of new piezoelectric and electrostrictive materials for use as sensors, actuators, and capacitors. They were the first to carry out a complete classification of primary and secondary ferroics with examples of each. He retired from Penn State in 1999 as Alcoa Professor Emeritus after serving eight years as Associate Director of the Materials Research Laboratory and 18 years as Director of the Intercollege Program on Solid State Science.

William J. Tanski, 67, of Glastonbury, CT, died at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center (Hartford, CT) on June 2, 2008. He was born on July 26, 1940, in Morristown, NJ, and had lived in Glastonbury since 1985. Bill received his BS degree in Electrical Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University, and his MS and PhD degrees in Physics from Georgetown University in 1970 and 1971, respectively. After serving in the US Navy as a nuclear reactor engineer, he began his career at the Sperry Research Center, in Sudbury, MA, in 1974. His early research work involved acoustic signal processing, and the development of VHF, UHF, and L-Band SAW resonator structures for a variety of oscillator and filter applications. After leaving Sperry, Bill worked at the Schlumberger-Doll Research Center in Ridgefield, CT, where he was involved in the development of SAW based pressure sensors. In 1985 he joined the United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) in East Hartford, CT, where he was engaged in the development of acoustic charge transport (ACT) and hetero-junction acoustic charge transport (HACT) device structures for signal processing and filtering applications. At UTRC he also continued his efforts to develop low noise SAW-based frequency sources for military applications. In recognition of his pioneering contributions to the development of SAW resonators, he was named an IEEE Fellow in 1992, with the following citation: “For developments in surface acoustic wave resonator devices”. During his career Bill was an active UFFC member, serving as a member of the Technical Program Committee for the Ultrasonics Symposium from 1980 to 1986, and also served as the UFFC Membership Chair for a number of years. Bill was an author of numerous technical publications during his career, as well as an inventor on many issued US patents. At the time of his death, he was working as an engineer for the United Technologies Otis Elevator subsidiary in Farmington, CT. Bill is survived by his wife Mary, and five sons.