Whinnery graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 1937, he received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1948, he also worked there from 1946 till 1959.
Career
Gallery of John Whinnery
Whinnery was a head of Microwave Tube Research at Hughes Aircraft Company from 1951 to 1952.
Gallery of John Whinnery
Gallery of John Whinnery
Gallery of John Whinnery
320 Mclaughlin Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
Whinnery served as a dean of College of Engineering from 1959 to 1963.
Whinnery graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 1937, he received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1948, he also worked there from 1946 till 1959.
John Roy Whinnery was an American electrical engineer, educator and writer. His research includes work on microwave electron devices, wave guiding systems, optical guiding systems and laser communications.
Background
John Roy Whinnery was born on July 26, 1916, in Read, Colorado, United States. He was a son of Ralph V. Whinnery and Edith Mable (Bent) Whinnery. His father was a farmer whose hobbies included mechanics and electricity, and Whinnery became interested in electrical engineering at an early age.
Education
After attending high school and junior college in Modesto, California, Whinnery enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering in 1937. Whinnery received his Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1948.
At the beginning of his career, Whinnery joined the research staff of the General Electric Company (GE) in Schenectady, New York. He spent one year as an assistant engineer before becoming supervisor of the High Frequency Section. There he was one of the leading members of a team working on the disk seal triode, a device significant in the field of high-frequency (microwave) electronics. While at GE, Whinnery also worked on problems in waveguide discontinuities. Waveguides, like transmission lines, are devices which transmit electromagnetic energy. Discontinuities dissipate the transmitted energy, preventing it from reaching the intended destination.
Whinnery did not spend all his time conducting research, however. With Simon Ramo, a colleague at GE, he coauthored the textbook Fields and Waves in Modern Radio. This publication, and later editions under a slightly different name, became the definitive text on electromagnetic theory, both in the United States and abroad. Additionally, Whinnery was active during the Second World War, teaching training classes and lecturing at Union College in Schenectady.
Returning to the University of California in 1946 as an electrical engineering lecturer, Whinnery began working toward his doctorate. In 1948 he was promoted to associate professor. From 1951 to 1952 he was on leave from the university as head of Microwave Tube Research at the Hughes Aircraft Company. He then returned to Berkeley, attained full professorship, and became director of the Electronics Research Laboratory. Whinnery held this position until 1956, when he was named chairperson of the engineering department. Throughout this time Whinnery taught courses in electromagnetic theory and microwave networks and continued his research in microwave electronics with the aid of his graduate students. This research centered on problems with antennae, electron tube noise, and crossed-field amplifiers, and led to significant developments, including the backward wave amplifier. In 1959 Whinnery was made dean of the College of Engineering at Berkeley. He remained in that position until 1963, when he took another leave of absence, this time going to Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey. At Bell, he began research in quantum electronics, specifically lasers and optical communication problems. A year later, Whinnery again returned to Berkeley, where he continued the research begun at Bell.
After 1964 Whinnery remained primarily at Berkeley, where he continued to act as a lecturer and a researcher in optics, lasers, and optical communications. Additionally, he served both the engineering community at large, and the nation, by assuming a leadership role in educating students and in formulating engineering education programs. This leadership included chairing the Commission on Engineering Education, serving as a visiting professor at Stanford University and the University of California in Santa Cruz, and serving on advisory committees for engineering departments at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, Harvard, Yale and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Whinnery also achieved international acclaim as a visiting professor at the National Defense Academy in Yokosuka, Japan.
In addition to his efforts regarding engineering education, Whinnery also served on various government committees, including the Science and Technical Advisory Committee for Manned Space Flight at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the President’s Committee for the National Medal of Science, and the Atomic Energy Commission’s standing committee on controlled thermonuclear research.
Whinnery was also a contributor to journals and periodicals, including Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers, Journal of Applied Physics, IEEE Student Journal, Accounts of Chemical Research and IEEE Transactions on Education.
Whinnery served on the board of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and on a number of IEEE award committees. He was also elected to both the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences. Whinnery was a member of the Optical Society of America, the Phi Beta Kappa, the Sigma Xi, the Tau Beta Pi and the Eta Kappa Nu.
Interests
hiking, writing poetry, children’s stories
Sport & Clubs
skiing, golf
Connections
On September 17, 1944, Whinnery married his childhood sweetheart, Patricia Barry. The marriage produced three children — Carol Joanne, Catherine and Barbara.