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OCR for page 215
JULIUS PAUL MOLNAR
1916-1973
BY EMANUEL R. PIORE
AT THE TIME of his death, on January 11, 1973, Julius P.
Molnar was Executive Vice-President and a Member of the
Board of Directors of Bell Laboratories, the research and
development unit of the Bell System, headquartered at Murray
Hill, New Jersey.
During his Bell System career, spanning twenty-seven years, he
also served as President of Sandia Corporation, a Sandia Director
and concurrently a Vice-President of Western Electric Company.
He was a resident of Summit, New Jersey.
Dr. Molnar was born in Detroit, Michigan, on February 23, 1916,
and attended public schools in Toledo, Ohio. He received a
Bachelor of Arts degree in physics from Oberlin College in 1937
and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in physics from Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in 1940. He then worked for the
National Defense Research Committee in Cambridge, Massachu-
setts, and the Gulf Research and Development Company in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before joining Bell Labs in 1945.
During his early Bell Labs career, he worked in physical elec-
tronics and the development of microwave tubes. Of this work,
John A. Hornbeck, Bell Labs Vice-President for computer technol-
ogy, design engineering, and information systems, said, "Two
physical effects are associated in the literature of physics with his
name. One is the M-band, an optical absorption band in salt
crystals, named in recognition of Molnar's discovery of the band
and his contributions to the study of its properties. The second one,
215
OCR for page 216
the Hornbeck-Molnar effect, is an ionization process by which
molecular ions are formed in the noble gases (helium, neon, argon,
etch. While a research physicist in physical electronics early in his
career at Bell Labs, he was an influential and helpful consultant to
his fellow scientists. Later, as a device engineer, he was closely
associated with bringing the traveling wave tube from the research
laboratory to practical utilization by the Bell System on its long
distance communications routes."
Dr. Molnar was appointed Director of Electron Tube Develop-
ment at Bell Labs in 1955, where he continued his work on
traveling wave tubes, and in 1957 he became Director of Military
Systems. He was named President of Sandia Corporation, A1-
buquerque, New Mexico, and a Vice-President of Western Electric
in 1958. Lt. Gen. Alfred D. Starbird, who was Deputy Director of
Defense Research and Engineering, U.S. Department of Defense,
noted that "as president of Sandia Corp., Dr. Molnar strengthened
its technical and operational functions in a critical period. He made
significant contributions to Bell Labs design and development of
the defense Automatic Voice Network (AUTOVON) and guided
development of the Safeguard system. His contributions to the
defense and security of our country were most impressive."
In 1960 Dr. Molnar returned to Bell Labs as Executive Vice-
President. He was described by former Bell Labs Board Chairman
lames B. Fisk as "A man of great talent, of unmatched energy and
drive, a perfectionist. He was totally dedicated to Bell Labs." For
the numerous accomplishments in development that can be attrib-
uted to Bell Labs in this past decade, a large share of the credit
belongs directly to Julius Molnar. "Under his firm hand," said
Kenneth G. McKay, Bell Labs Executive Vice-President, "an un-
precedented development program evolved during the past dec-
ade at Bell Labs. This program attacks virtually every phase of
communications with advanced electronics and modern tech-
niques; its results will be felt for decades."
In 1967, Dr. Molnar was named to the Committee of Science and
Technology of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. A Fellow of the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the American
Physical Society, he was elected to the National Academy of En-
216
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gineering in 1969 for his leadership in the development of radio
guidance systems. He also served as a trustee of the American
Optical Company, Southbridge, Massachusetts. In 1971, he re-
ceived the distinguished George Washington Award, presented
annually by the American Hungarian Studies Foundation in rec-
ognition of his contributions "to research, human knowledge, the
arts, and understanding among men and nations."
"Although he was devoted to the values of organization," said
W. O. Baker, President of Bell Laboratories, "he never forgot that
it depended on people whose personalities and individualities had
always to be recognized and rewarded. Thus, he himself matched
and enhanced the principles of community of the Bell System, and
especially Bell Laboratories. Although firmly committed to what
seemed to him to be best for the whole institution, he never forgot
that this could conflict with the feelings of any particular person
and always tried to heed both factors in advancing our cause.
Indeed, Julius sought ever to understand what made things work
in people and in nature, and pursued argument eagerly and vividly
in a ceaseless effort to be informed, so as to serve more fully the
large and challenging endeavors which he undertook."
217
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
physical electronics
