Background
Kahng, Dawon was born on May 4, 1931 in Seoul, Republic of Korea. Son of Chung-Ryong and Kyong-Hee (Lee) Kahng. came to the United States, 1954, naturalized, 1964.
physicist research and development executive
Kahng, Dawon was born on May 4, 1931 in Seoul, Republic of Korea. Son of Chung-Ryong and Kyong-Hee (Lee) Kahng. came to the United States, 1954, naturalized, 1964.
He studied Physics at Seoul National University, Seoul, South of Korea, and emigrated to the United States in 1955 to attend Ohio State University, where he received a doctorate in physics.
He was a researcher at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey and he invented Metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor), which is the basic element in most of today"s electronic equipment, with Martin M Atalla in 1959. He also conducted research on high frequency Schottky diodes, ferro-electric semiconductors, and luminous materials, and made important contributions to the field of electroluminescence. He also invented Floating Gate non-volatile semiconductor memory in 1967.
After retiring from Bell Laboratories, he became the founding president of the Nippon Electric Corporation Research Institute in New Jersey.
He was a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a fellow of the Bell Laboratories. He was also a recipient of the Stuart Ballantine Medal of the Franklin Institute and the Distinguished Alummus Award of the Ohio State University College of Engineering.
He died of complications following emergency surgery for a ruptured aortic aneurysm in 1992.
Fellow Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Member Sigma Xi, Pi Mu Epsilon.
Married Young-Hee Kim, January 21, 1956. Children— Kim, Vivienne, Lillian, Dwight, Eileen.