Posted on 05/08/2008 9:20:23 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
ALBUQUERQUE — Morgan Sparks, who led Sandia National Laboratories for nearly a decade and invented a device that has revolutionized almost every aspect of modern life, has died.
Sparks died Saturday at his daughter's home in Fullerton, Calif., Sandia said Tuesday in a news release. He was 91.
Sparks worked for 30 years at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey before taking over as director of Sandia in 1972. He served in the post until his retirement in 1981.
Sandia and Bell labs officials said Sparks invented the first practical transistor, a semiconductor device that led to devices such as personal computers, cell phones and DVD players.
Transistors work something like light switches, flipping on and off inside a chip to generate the ones and zeros that store and process information inside a computer.
Sparks joined the Semiconductor Research Group at the New Jersey lab in 1948 just as three of the group's physicists — John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley — were developing the first transistor for which they won the Nobel Prize, said Peter Benedict, a spokesman for Bell. The New Jersey lab is the research arm of Alcatel-Lucent.
Sparks conducted materials science research with the group and worked with fellow team members Shockley and Gordon Teal to help develop the microwatt junction transistor in 1951.
Junction transistors began replacing vacuum tubes in electronic devices such as portable radios. Soon, transistors became essential in electronic computers and their production grew monumentally after the emergence of the microchip in the 1960s.
Benedict said Bell lab scientists who worked on early transistor technology created something that is fundamental to everyday life.
"They created a new field of science and new manifestations of matter. They were scientists who brought fundamental science to real world needs," Benedict said.
Sparks rose through the management ranks during the 1960s and '70s at Bell lab and the Western Electric Company — the manufacturing arm of American Telephone and Telegraph — before taking his position as director of Sandia.
Current Sandia director Tom Hunter, who was a young staff member at the lab when Sparks was director, said Sparks made a big impact "on all of us."
"He set the framework for Sandia to become a multi-program lab. He was widely recognized for his ability to engage the labs in many new areas that proved to be important for our future," Hunter said in a statement. "He was a credit to the lab and, true to our mission, provided exceptional service to the nation."
Sparks was active in civic life in Albuquerque following his retirement, serving on the boards of Presbyterian and Lovelace hospitals, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and Albuquerque Academy. He also was chairman of High Desert Investment Corp. until 2007.
Doug Collister, president of High Desert, said Sparks — his friend for the last 30 years — had a rich group of friends he kept in contact with through his many endeavors.
Sparks often could be found joining in a round of golf while enjoying the warm New Mexico sunshine, Collister said.
"He was wise, thoughtful and kind, and he took his time and was not quick to rush to judgment. He had keen insights. ... It was an honor to have worked with him and to call him a friend," Collister said. "I mean, it's amazing when you think about the fact that he was there when the transistor was born. How do we live without them anymore?"
U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said Sparks set a high standard of professional and efficient management at Sandia. "He recognized the future need to channel lab science into technology transfer, and he laid the groundwork to link defense-based research to applications that now impact our lives every day," Domenici said in a news release.
Sparks was born in 1916 in Pagosa Springs, Colo., and raised in Texas. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in chemistry at Rice University before receiving his doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Illinois in 1943.
Sparks was preceded in death by his wife of 57 years, Elizabeth MacEvoy Sparks. The couple had four children, including Margaret Potter of Waitsfield, Vt.; Gordon Sparks, also of Waitsfield; Patricia Fusting of Fullerton; and Morgan Sparks of Burlington, Vt.
A memorial service will be held in Albuquerque later this month.
RIP Mr. Sparks...A job well done!
I was going to post this the other day, but the source is banned from FR :(
'Atta boy.
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As scientists began to leave the Shockley group , they were naturally replaced. Morgan Sparks was one of the men who joined the group after the invention of the transistor. But he jumped right in and led the effort to build junction transistors -- taking Shockley's idea and turning it into a workable device. Working with Gordon Teal, Sparks built most of the first junction transistor prototypes, concentrating on figuring out how to grow the necessary semiconductor crystals.
Sparks grew up in Colorado and earned his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Illinois, Urbana, in 1943. His first job when he graduated was with Bell Labs. When Robert Gibney left the semiconductor group in the spring of 1948, the group needed a new physical chemist -- Sparks was transferred in.
Sparks got along well with Shockley, and worked closely with him. Sparks also got along well with Shockley's secretary -- Bette MacEvoy. The two socialized a lot with others in the group, and in 1949 they were married. Shockley was at the wedding; he'd gotten quite a reputation for playing practical jokes at that point, and this was no exception. He disabled the bride and groom's getaway car. Everyone laughed as the Sparks tried to speed away and ended up just spinning their wheels in the mud.
Although Shockley tried to entice Sparks to California when he left, Sparks stayed on at Bell Labs, gradually moving up through the ranks into management. In 1972, he was transferred to New Mexico, as president of Sandia Laboratories, a national lab managed by AT&T. Sparks retired from Bell in 1981.
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Morgan Sparks talks about Bell Labs' cooperation in making the transistor available:
“Sparks” and “Shock”ley. The names conjure up the results of many failed designs. Good thing they try tried again!
RIP Mr. Sparks.
Remember when they said transistors didn’t produce heat? There was no fan in a tube TV. Now, we use so many transistor junctions that there has to be a fan in our computers! New TVs and cable boxes produce so much heat that they can help heat a room.
Da Vinci, Leibniz, Newton, Einstein, D’Alembert, Sparks and their colleagues throughout history are the true artists and discoverers of God's hand.
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