Oral History: L. Eric Cross (2011)

Cross was born and raised in Yorkshire, England. After excelling in electrical engineering and troubleshooting during his service in the Admiralty in WWII, Cross earned his B.S. (1948) and Ph.D. (1952) in Physics at the Unversity of Leeds, where he began his lifelong research on ferroelectrics. In 1961, he joined the Electrical Engineering Department at Penn State University, where he had been ever since. At Penn State, he helped found the Materials Research Laboratory and mentored over fifty doctoral students. In addition to his breakthroughs and publications in the field of ferroelectricity, Cross has been involved in numerous international research efforts and even consulted on the Hubble Telescope.

In this interview Cross describes his childhood in the wool manufacturing village of Morley; his Admiralty service during WWII and assignment to HFDF; and his research on ferroelectrics at Leeds and mentorship by E. C. Stoner and Richard Whittington. Cross discusses his long research career at Penn State, where he helped found the Materials Research Lab and collaborated with the Electrical Research Association, the Office of Naval Research, as well as a myriad of international scholars and institutions. He offers an insight into the diplomacy of research and the complications of geopolitics; the dilemma of secure funding for scientific research; and the rewards of pedagogy and mentorship as a professor.