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Robert N.
Hall
Robert Noel Hall was
born in New Haven, Connecticut on December 25,
1919. Hall earned a B.S. in Physics at CalTech in 1942 and
a Ph.D. in physics at CalTech in 1948. He then returned to the General
Electric
Research and Development Center in Schenectady, New York, where he had
worked during WorldWar II on continuous wave magnetrons to jam enemy
radar. These were later incorporated into microwave ovens. After the
war Hall worked first on transistors, succeeding in making ingots of
never-before-available intrinsic germanium from which devices could be
fabricated. A "chance observation" while measuring the electrical
properties of one of these ingots led him to his discovery of alloyed
p-n junctions, the fundamental elements of power rectifiers and some
transistors. During the 1970s energy crisis Hall worked on
photovoltaics and solar cells.
Robert Hall invented the
version of the magnetron that operates most
microwave ovens, the semiconductor laser found in compact disk players,
and power rectifiers that greatly improved power transmission
efficiency. His basic rectifier structure, with silicon replacing the
germanium, is
used today for AC-to-DC power conversion in electric locomotives and
high-voltage DC electrical transmission. In 1962 Hall invented the
semiconductor injection laser, a device now used in all compact disk
players and laser printers, and most optical fiber communications
systems.
Dr. Hall retired from GE
in 1989 but still lives in the town of
Niskayuna, Schenectady County, NY, not far from what is now called GE
Global Research.
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