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OCR for page 81
WILLIAM L. EVERITT
1 900-1 986
BY EDWARD C. JORDAN AND
GEORGE W. SWENSON, JR.
WILLIAM L. EvER~TT, dean emeritus of the College of
Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
died on September 6, 1986. His was a truly illustrious ca-
reer as scientist-engineer and engineering educator, with a
worldwide reputation as a leader in the field of electronics
and communication engineering. Through his writing, particularly
his textbook Communication Engineering, he profoundly influ-
enced several generations of electrical engineers and laid
the groundwork for many of the developments in telecom-
munications of the past half-century. His pioneering efforts
were instrumental in expanding from a field dealing almost
solely with electric power to one encompassing communi-
cation and electronics and all their extensions into the modern
aspects of the field. Because of his leaclership in engineering
education, this transformation, accomplished successfully
at his own institutions, hastened the process of change
throughout the nation.
He was born April 14, 1900, in Baltimore, Maryland, and
pursued his early academic career at Cornell (E.E., 1922)
and the University of Michigan (M.S., ~ 926), while serving
as an instructor of electrical engineering at both institutions.
Between the times he was at the universities, he spent two
years as an engineer at North Electric Manufacturing Company
in charge of automatic PBX development. He also spent
81
OCR for page 82
82
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
five summers with AT&T in the Department of Develop-
ment and Research. With his background of real-worId
engineering experience, he began a remarkably productive
eighteen-year career at the Ohio State University (OSU).
It was at OSU that he developed the principle of the radio
altimeter, which is now used as standard equipment on all
the larger aircraft. Here also he developed the theory of
Class C amplifiers (the main subject of his Ph.D. thesis) as
well as Class B amplifiers and introduced the concept of
piecewise linear analysis of large-signal electronic circuits.
He also developed the systematic design of networks to
couple transmitters to antennas (including the almost uni-
versally used pi network), and, of course, antennas. The
results of this work had immediate applicability and were
transmitted directly to the practicing engineer through the
medium of the first Broadcast Engineering Conference, which
he organized at OSU in 1939.
The book Communication Engineering brought graduate
students from all over the world to the Ohio State Univer-
sity and the University of Illinois. This text, first written in
1932, has gone through three editions, and there have been
several foreign translations including an early pirated Japanese
edition. The book was a standard source in communication
engineering for more than thirty-five years. It was really
the first textbook to use the modern approach of incorpo-
rating recent research results in a form suitable for classroom
presentation.
During World War IT, Dr. Everitt was called to Washing-
ton to serve as director of the operational research staff,
Office of the Chief Signal Officer, U.S. Army. For this
work, he was awarded the War Department's Exceptionally
Meritorious Civilian Award. After the war, he became heacI
of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University
of Illinois, and in 1949 was named dean of the College of
Engineering. At Illinois, Everitt recruited an outstanding
faculty and developed a strong research program that pro-
pelled the department and college to the front ranks of
OCR for page 83
WILLIAM L. EVERITT
83
engineering education. His leadership as an educator is
evidenced by the fact that he has held nearly every major
office in the key professional and engineering education
societies. He has been president of the Institute of Radio
Engineers, the American Society for Engineering Education,
and the Engineers Council for Professional Development.
He has also been awarded major medals or awards by these
and other professional societies. As was typical of Dr. Everitt's
efforts to keep up with the technical advances of his field,
he undertook the editorship of the Prentice-Hall series of
Electrical Engineering texts. In this capacity, he edited
more than one hundred textbooks, ranging from basic electrical
engineering through information theory, to the physics of
microwave propagation.
After "retirement" as dean in 196S, he vigorously pursued
his professional activities, serving for five years as the very
active chairman of the Committee on Telecommunications
of the National Academy of Engineering (of which he was
founding member), and more recently as chairman and
member of the Support Pane] of the Office of Telecommu-
nications of the Department of Commerce. Under his
chairmanship, several significant reports, such as Communications
Technology for Urban Improvement, Telecommunications Research
in the United States and Selected Foreign Countries, and The Ap-
plication of Social and Economic Values to Spectrum Management
were issued.
c, . .
Throughout his career, Everitt gave selflessly in service
to his fellow man through contributions at the community,
state, and national levels. He has a lifetime record of service
to his country through the U.S. Department of Defense.
The effect of Everitt's work on electrical engineering sci-
ence was recognized in part when he was made president
of the Institute of Radio Engineers in 1945; in 1954 when
the institute bestowed upon him its highest award, the Medal
of Honor "for his distinguished career as an educator and
scientist; for his contributions in electronics and communi-
cations as a major branch of electrical engineering . . .";
OCR for page 84
84
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
and in 1963 when he received the Mervin I. Kelly Award of
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers "for out-
standing leadership and many contributions in the field of
telecommunications." His impact on engineering educa-
tion has been cited in many of the honorary degrees and
awards that have been bestowed upon him:
tion."
"One of the outstanding leaders of all time in engineering educa-
"For exceptional leadership and innovation in engineering education,
distinguished contributions to science and advancement of the engi-
neering profession, and meritorious service to society."
He was a founding member of the National Academy of
Engineering, and he was honored by scores of awards and
citations from national and international professional and
governmental agencies, including honorary doctorates from
ten universities in the United States and abroad. In 1984,
at the centennial celebration of the Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers, he was named one of the top
ten electrical engineers of all time and one of an even
more select group of top engineering educators.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
communication engineering
