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Stanford R. Ovshinsky

Stanford Robert Ovshinsky (November 24, 1922 – October 17, 2012) was an American engineer, scientist and inventor who over a span of fifty years was granted well over 400 patents, mostly in the areas of energy and information.[1] Many of his inventions have had wide-ranging applications. Among the most prominent are: the nickel-metal hydride battery, which has been widely used in laptop computers, digital cameras, cell phones, and electric and hybrid cars; flexible thin-film solar energy laminates and panels; flat panel liquid crystal displays; rewritable CD and DVD discs; hydrogen fuel cells; and nonvolatile phase-change memory.[2][3]

Stanford Robert Ovshinsky
Stanford R. Ovshinsky, August 2005
Born
Stanford Robert Ovshinsky

(1922-11-24)November 24, 1922
DiedOctober 17, 2012(2012-10-17) (aged 89)
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)engineer, scientist and Inventor
Known forNickel–metal hydride battery Phase-change memory
Spouses
  • Norma Rifkin
    (m. 1943; div. 1959)
  • (m. 1960; died 2006)
  • Rosa Young
    (m. 2007)

Ovshinsky opened the scientific field of amorphous and disordered materials in the course of his research in the 1940s and 50s in neurophysiology, neural disease, the nature of intelligence in mammals and machines, and cybernetics.[4][5] Amorphous silicon semiconductors have become the basis of many technologies and industries. Ovshinsky is also distinguished in being self-taught, without formal college or graduate training.[5] Throughout his life, his love for science and his social convictions were the primary engines for his inventive work.[5]

In 1960, Ovshinsky and his soon-to-be second wife, Iris Dibner, founded Energy Conversion Laboratory in a storefront in Detroit, dedicating the laboratory to the solution of important societal problems using science and technology.[5] Focusing on the critical areas of energy and information, their new company, reconstituted in 1964 as Energy Conversion Devices (ECD), went on to become a forefront invention and development laboratory whose products have built new industries, many of them aimed at making fossil fuel obsolete. ECD continues (through joint ventures and license partners) to be a leading solar energy and battery production firm.[6]

Roughly a year after Iris Ovshinsky's death in August 2006, Ovshinsky left ECD and established a new company, Ovshinsky Innovation LLC, devoted to developing the scientific basis for new energy and information technologies. In October 2007 he married Rosa Young, a physicist who had worked at ECD on numerous energy technologies including a hydrogen-powered hybrid car and on Ovshinsky's vision of a hydrogen-based economy.

Early life edit

Ovshinsky was born and grew up in the industrial town of Akron, Ohio, then at the center of the American rubber industry. The elder son of working-class Lithuanian Jewish immigrant parents who left Eastern Europe around 1905—Benjamin Ovshinsky from Lithuania and Bertha Munitz from what is now Belarus—Ovshinsky became active in social activities at an early age during the Great Depression.[7] His lifelong concern to better the lives of workers and minorities, as well as to advance culture and the interests of industry, derive largely from his father, who was a generous, liberal, and highly cultured activist. With his horse and wagon, and later his truck, Ben Ovshinsky made his living collecting scrap metal from factories and foundries.[2] Based on his father's example, and on teachings offered by the Akron Workmen's Circle, an organization mainly of Jewish immigrants who believed in social justice, Stan Ovshinsky developed a deep commitment to social values, including labor rights, civil rights, and civil liberties.[8]

Work through the 1950s edit

Work as a machinist and the Benjamin Center Drive edit

Before graduating from high school in June 1941, Ovshinsky worked as a teacher, tool maker and machinist in various local shops affiliated with the rubber industry.[9] During the Second World War, he and his bride, Norma Rifkin, moved to Arizona, where Ovshinsky worked for a time in the tool room of a Goodyear plant in Litchfield, not far from Phoenix. Returning to Akron shortly before the end of the war, Ovshinsky eventually established his own machine company, Stanford Roberts, initially in a barn.[10] There he developed and patented his first invention, the Benjamin Center Drive, named after his father.[11] This unique automatic high-speed center drive lathe had many important uses. After Ovshinsky sold his company to the New Britain Machine Company in Connecticut, it was used to help solve the national crisis of making artillery shells in large enough volume for wartime needs during the Korean War. Meanwhile, Ovshinsky continued to develop his growing interest in human and machine intelligence, avidly studying the research literature on neurophysiology, neurological disease, and cybernetics, corresponding briefly with Norbert Wiener.[12]

Intelligent machines edit

In 1951, Ovshinsky accepted an offer to move to Detroit and work in the automotive industry as the director of research at the Hupp Motor Company. Continuing his work on intelligent machines, he invented electric power steering, but Hupp's president was opposed to completing the arrangements with General Motors to utilize the product. Not long after that, Stan and his younger brother Herb Ovshinsky, a talented mechanical engineer, established a small company called General Automation in a Detroit storefront. There, Stan continued his study of intelligent machines and embarked on early research and development of various energy and information technologies. At the same time, he began studying neurophysiology and neurological diseases.[5] On the basis of his early writings about nerve impulses and the nature of intelligence, he was invited by Wayne Medical School in June 1955 to participate in pioneering experimental research on the mammalian cerebellum.

The Ovitron edit

By the late 1950s, working at General Automation, Ovshinsky brought together these disparate studies in an invention. Crossing scientific disciplines that academics traditionally hold separate, including neurophysiology and cybernetics, Stan invented, and Herb Ovshinsky helped build, a mechanical model of a nerve cell – an amorphous thin-film switch they called the Ovitron. Stan patented the device and the brothers disclosed it publicly in 1959 in New York City. In an attempt to model the learning ability of nerve cells, which Stan recognized as deriving from the plasticity of the cell's membrane, he drew on his knowledge of surfaces and materials to fashion very thin layers of amorphous material, thus pioneering the use of nanostructures. He created these layers by combining elements, especially from the Group 16 elements under oxygen, known as chalcogenides, including sulphur, selenium, and tellurium. He would continue to work with chalcogenides in his inventions for decades to come.[12]

Work from 1960 edit

Energy Conversion Laboratory edit

On January 1, 1960, Ovshinsky and Iris Miroy Dibner, whom he married soon after his divorce from Norma Rifkin, founded Energy Conversion Laboratory to develop his inventions in the interest of solving societal problems, especially those they identified in the areas of information and energy (e.g. pollution and wars over oil).[13] Iris had a BA in zoology from Swarthmore College, an MS in biology from the University of Michigan, and a PhD in biochemistry from Boston University.[14] Continuing to work on his atomically designed chalcogenide materials, which Ovshinsky realized offer unique electronic physical mechanisms, he utilized chain structures, cross links, polymeric concepts, and divalent structural bonding with a huge number of unbonded lone pairs to achieve what is now referred to as the Ovshinsky Effect – "an effect that turns special types of glassy, thin films into semiconductors upon application of low voltage."[15] Applying this effect, he built new types of electronic and optical switches, including his Ovonic Phase Change Memory and his Threshold Switch. The former would become the basis of his subsequent inventions of rewritable CDs and DVDs and other new computer technologies including his cognitive computer.[4] The latter is used in phase change memory that is entering the consumer market in 2017.[16] While others working in the crystalline field were building devices based on bulk materials, Ovshinsky's work in the 1960s and later continued to be based on thin films and nanostructures.[4] Recognizing the significance of his results, Ovshinsky applied for a patent on June 21, 1961 and, in 1962, made his first licensing pact on phase-change memory.

Energy Conversion Devices edit

By the spring of 1963, the Ovshinskys had exhausted the savings with which they had initially funded ECL. Before seeking public funding, Stan wanted validation of the importance of his work from a well-recognized scientist. He telephoned Nobel Laureate John Bardeen, a co-inventor of the transistor and co-discoverer of the BCS theory of superconductivity. Bardeen immediately recognized the importance of Ovshinsky's work but his schedule did not permit him to visit ECL for five months. Stan replied, "We'll be broke by then."[12] In his place, Bardeen sent Hellmut Fritzsche, a University of Chicago physicist. Fritzsche became very positive in his support of Ovshinsky's work and helped attract other scientists to the Ovshinsky laboratory. As Fritzsche and Brian Schwartz later wrote, "There is a mysterious quality in Ovshinsky's persona that attracts people into his sphere, builds life long friendships and awakens deep respect and devotion. Meeting him leaves each person with a deep impression of his superior intellect, his self confidence, his compassion to improve society combined with his certainty that his vision can be realized. His enthusiasm is contagious. In his presence, you feel how exciting it would be to join him in his endeavors."[5] Among the many famous scientists who came regularly to ECL as friends or collaborators over the next years, were David Adler, Bardeen, Arthur Bienenstock, Morrel H. Cohen, Kenichi Fukui, William Lipscomb, Sir Nevill Mott, Linus Pauling, Isadore I. Rabi, Edward Teller, David Turnbull, Victor Weisskopf, and Robert R. Wilson.[4][5][17][18] Some joined as consultants or as members of the Board of Directors. Meanwhile, the ECL community developed a uniquely productive, non-hierarchical, multicultural, international environment, reflecting Stan and Iris' social values. In 1964, Stan and Iris changed the laboratory's name to Energy Conversion Devices and moved the company to larger quarters in Troy, Michigan.

The company continued to develop electronic memory, batteries, and solar cells, reinvesting almost every penny of profit into the scientific study of a wide variety of problems, much of which later became the basis of lucrative industries, e.g., flat screen liquid crystal displays. In time, license fees to ECD began to grow, especially when amorphous silicon was used to make solar cells "by the mile," with an approach that originated from Ovshinsky's non-silver photographic film work.[2] It led to the bold approach of using the first continuous web photovoltaic machine, designed and built under Stan's direction by Herb Ovshinsky and a small group in the machine division. Generations of machines later resulted in sufficient money to reach Ovshinsky's objective of building a 30 megawatt machine, rather than a 5 megawatt machine. Despite considerable skepticism toward the machine, it is now being cloned very successfully by ECD in new plants.[13] ECD also saw profits from the nickel metal hydride batteries, which were important for a time in laptop computers and continue to be important in hybrid gas-electric automobiles.[4][13]

Ovshinsky Innovation LLC edit

On August 16, 2006, Iris Ovshinsky, Stan's wife and partner of almost fifty years, died suddenly while swimming.[19] A year later, Ovshinsky retired from ECD and launched a new company with Rosa Young, whom he later married. At Ovshinsky Innovation LLC, he continued his work on information and energy science, in strong relationships with colleagues and with industrial partners (for example, Ovonyx, which is developing phase-change semiconductor memory). Ovshinsky Innovation is currently focusing on a new kind of photovoltaic plant based on a new concept promising to lower the cost of photovoltaic energy sources below that of coal.[12] This latter innovation would help realize his long-term goal over the last half-century to make fossil fuels obsolete while, at the same time, providing countless jobs in new industries.

ECD has been recognized as the company that "developed solar roofing shingles in the 1990s," and making "the best available flexible thin film in the world," in addition to being one of the first companies to work on building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) [20] Because of his independent and radical contributions to science, he has been compared with Albert Einstein.[21] Because of his many inventions in digital memory, solar energy, battery technology, optical media, and solid hydrogen storage, and his hundreds of basic scientific patents, he has often been compared with Thomas Edison.[3][4][13] In the area of alternatives to fossil fuel, his pioneering work has caused many writers to refer to him as "the modern world's most important energy visionary."[22]

General Motors and the US Auto Battery Consortium edit

 
The Ovonics technology was acquired by General Motors for use in its EV1 electric car, but production was ended shortly after the NiMH batteries began to replace the lead-acid batteries of earlier models

In an interview in the 2006 documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?, Ovshinsky stated that in the early 1990s, the auto industry created the US Auto Battery Consortium (USABC) to stifle the development of electric vehicle technology by preventing the dissemination of knowledge about Ovshinsky's battery-related patents to the public through the California Air Resources Board (CARB).[23]

According to Ovshinsky, the auto industry falsely suggested that NiMH technology was not yet ready for widespread use in road cars.[24] Members of the USABC, including General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler, threatened to take legal action against Ovshinsky if he continued to promote NiMH's potential for use in BEVs, and if he continued to lend test batteries to Solectria, a start-up electric vehicle maker that was not part of the USABC. Critics argue that the Big Three were more interested in convincing CARB members that electric vehicles were not technologically and commercially viable.[23]

In 1994, General Motors acquired a controlling interest in Ovonics's battery development and manufacture, including patents controlling the manufacture of large NiMH batteries. The original intent of the equity alliance was to develop NiMH batteries for GM's EV1 BEV. Sales of GM-Ovonics batteries were later taken over by GM manager and critic of CARB John Williams, leading Ovshinsky to wonder whether his decision to sell to GM had been naive.[23] The EV1 program was shut down by GM before the new NiMH battery could be commercialized, despite field tests that indicated the Ovonics battery extended the EV1's range to over 150 miles.[23]

Death edit

His last public appearance was at Louis Riel School in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Ovshinsky died of prostate cancer on October 17, 2012, aged 89 in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.[25][26]

Honors and awards edit

With more than 300 publications on his curriculum vitae, Ovshinsky has won many prizes for his contributions to science and innovation.[1]

Memberships and fellowships edit

Awards edit

  • 2005 Innovation Award for Energy and the Environment by The Economist
  • American Solar Energy Society Hoyt Clarke Hottel Award
  • Karl W. Böer Solar Energy Medal of Merit
  • International Association for Hydrogen Energy Sir William Grove Award
  • 2007 Walston Chubb Award for Innovation, presented by Sigma Xi, the Research Society
  • Frederick Douglass/Eugene V. Debs Award (2006)
  • Engineering Society of Detroit Lifetime Achievement Award (2008)
  • Environmental Hall of Fame 2008 Award, Solar Thin Film Category, Father of Thin-Film Solar Energy
  • IEEE Vehicular Technology Society Presidential Citation in recognition of a long and outstanding record of pioneering accomplishments and service to the profession (2009)
  • 2009 Thomas Midgley Award from the Detroit Section of the American Chemical Society
  • Nominated as a finalist for the prestigious European Inventor Award 2012 by the European Patent Office for his development of NiMH batteries. The award was launched in 2006 as the first European prize to distinguish inventors who have made "an outstanding contribution to innovation, economy and society."
  • Named "Hero for the Planet" by TIME magazine (1999), with Iris Ovshinsky Hero of Chemistry 2000 by the American Chemical Society
  • Inducted into the 2005 Solar Hall of Fame
  • Diesel Gold Medal presented by the German Inventors Association (Deutscher Erfinderverband), in recognition of his discovery of the semiconductor switching effect in disordered and amorphous materials (1968)
  • Honorary Calgarian award at Louis Riel School in Calgary, Canada (May 24, 2012)
  • Honorary Doctorate of Engineering degree from Kettering University, Flint, Michigan (December 11, 2010)[27]
  • Honorary Doctorate of Science degree from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan (May 1, 2010)
  • Honorary Doctorate in Science from Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan (May 7, 2009)
  • Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois (May 16, 2009)
  • Honorary Doctorate from Ovidius University, Constanţa, Romania (June 30, 2009)
  • Honorary Doctorate of Science from New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, New York (May 18, 2008).[28]
  • Honorary Doctorate of Science from Kean University, Union, New Jersey (May 8, 2007)
  • In 2015, Ovshinsky was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

In popular culture edit

Ovshinsky appeared in the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?, as well as in parts 1 and 3 of the episode "Hydrogen Hopes" of Alan Alda's television series Scientific American Frontiers. The website of Scientific American Frontiers makes "Hydrogen Hopes" available for viewing at no charge, as well as the text of an interview with Stan and Iris Ovshinsky.[29] Ovshinsky was profiled as "Japan's American Genius" in the PBS series NOVA (October 1987).

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Avery Cohn, "A Revolution Fueled by the Sun," Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies (Spring 2008): p. 22.
  2. ^ a b c "The Edison of our Age?" The Economist, December 2, 2006, pp. 33–34.
  3. ^ a b Hellmut Fritzsche and Brian Schwartz, Stanford R. Ovshinsky: The Science and Technology of an American Genius (Singapore: World Scientific, 2008), p. 1.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "The Edison of our Age?" The Economist, December 2, 2006
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Hellmut Fritzsche and Brian Schwartz, Stanford R. Ovshinsky: The Science and Technology of an American Genius (Singapore: World Scientific, 2008), pp. 3, 5, 51.
  6. ^ John Fialka, "Power Surge: After Decades, A Solar Pioneer Sees Spark in Sales" Wall Street Journal, November 27, 2006; >"The Edison of our Age?"
  7. ^ George S. Howard, Stan Ovshinsky and the Hydrogen Economy:…Creating a Better World (Notre Dame: Academic Publications, 2006), pp. 13, 15.
  8. ^ George S. Howard, Stan Ovshinsky and the Hydrogen Economy:…Creating a Better World (Notre Dame: Academic Publications, 2006), p. 14.
  9. ^ George S. Howard, Stan Ovshinsky and the Hydrogen Economy:…Creating a Better World (Notre Dame: AcademicPublications, 2006), p. 23.
  10. ^ Margot Hornblower, "Listen, Detroit: You'll Get a Charge Out of This," Time, Heroes for the Planet, February 22, 1999, p. 80.
  11. ^ George S. Howard, Stan Ovshinsky and the Hydrogen Economy:…Creating a Better World (Notre Dame: Academic Publications, 2006), p. 50.
  12. ^ a b c d Interview with Stanford and Iris Ovshinsky by Lillian Hoddeson, January 4–5, 2006, July 19–20, 2006, and August 16, 2006, available in Hoddeson's private collection, Urbana, IL.
  13. ^ a b c d Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran, "Invent," The New York Times Magazine, April 20, 2008, The green issue.
  14. ^ Hellmut Fritzsche and Brian Schwartz, Stanford R. Ovshinsky: The Science and Technology of an American Genius (Singapore: World Scientific, 2008), p. 17.
  15. ^ v 1.1 of the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2006.
  16. ^ Allyn Malventano (2 June 2017). "How 3D XPoint Phase-Change Memory Works | Selectors, Scaleability, and Conclusion". www.pcper.com. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  17. ^ George S. Howard, Stan Ovshinsky and the Hydrogen Economy:…Creating a Better World (Notre Dame: Academic Publications, 2006), pp. 68–69.
  18. ^ Harley Shaiken, "The Einstein of alternative energy?" Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies (Spring 2008): pp. 28–29.
  19. ^ Jeremy W. Peters, "Iris M. Ovshinsky, 79, Partner in Cleaner Auto Technology, is Dead," New York Times, September 5, 2006.
  20. ^ Jennifer Kho, "Energy Conversion Devices' turnaround: Is BIPV finally ready to take off?" Renewable Energy World, January 16, 2009 and Dominique Browning, "Extreme Makeover: White House Edition," The Wall Street Journal, January 16, 2009, W1.
  21. ^ Harley Shaiken, "The Einstein of alternative energy?" and Harley Shaiken, "Jumpstarting the Americas," Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies (Fall 2008): pp. 2-7.
  22. ^ Iain Carson and Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran, Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future (Hachette, NY: Twelve, 2007), p. 5.
  23. ^ a b c d Shnayerson, Michael (1996-08-27). The Car That Could: The Inside Story of GM's Revolutionary Electric Vehicle. Random House. pp. 194–207. ISBN 978-0679421054.
  24. ^ Coker, M. (2003-05-15). . Orange County Weekly. Archived from the original on 2009-05-24. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  25. ^ "Welcome to nginx eaa1a9e1db47ffcca16305566a6efba4!185.15.56.1". Archived from the original on 2012-12-09. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
  26. ^ Barnaby J. Feder (October 18, 2012). "Stanford R. Ovshinsky Dies at 89, a Self-Taught Maverick in Electronics". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-10-19. ... died on Wednesday at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. He was 89. The cause was prostate cancer, his son Harvey said. ...
  27. ^ Beata Mostafavi (9 December 2010). "Kettering University and University of Michigan-Flint to hold commencement ceremonies; Energy icon Stanford Ovshinsky to be honored". The Flint Journal. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
  28. ^ "NYIT Announces 2008 Speakers and Honorary Degree Recipients". May 2008.
  29. ^ "Stanford R. Ovshinsky, on season 15 , episode 6". Scientific American Frontiers. Chedd-Angier Production Company. 2005. PBS. from the original on 2006-01-01.

Bibliography edit

  • Hoddeson, Lillian, and Peter Garrett. The Man Who Saw Tomorrow: The Life and Inventions of Stanford R. Ovshinsky. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2018.
  • Henderson, Tom. Crain's Detroit Business, "Quest for 'holy grail' of solar drives Ovshinsky" January 2–8, 2012, vol. 28, no. 1.
  • Sigma Xi 125th Anniversary Interview. "Stanford R. Ovshinsky (1990)," interviewed by Greg P. Smestad. [1]
  • Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. "Stanford Ovshinsky: Pursuing solar electricity at a cost equal to or lower than that of coal electricity", May 2011 vol. 67 no. 3 1-7 [2]
  • Fisher, Lawrence M. "Stan Ovshinsky's Solar Revolution" strategy+business, Spring 2011: 62–71. [3]
  • Herbert, Bob. "Signs of Hope" The New York Times Magazine, November 24, 2009. [4]
  • Carson, Iain and Vijay Vaitheeswaran. Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future. Hachette, New York: Twelve, 2007.
  • Cohn, Avery. "A Revolution Fueled by the Sun" Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies (Spring 2008): 22–24.
  • "The Edison of our Age?" The Economist, December 2, 2006.[5]
  • Fialka, John. "Power Surge: After Decades, A Solar Pioneer Sees Spark in Sales." Wall Street Journal, November 27, 2006.
  • Fritzsche, Hellmut, and Brian Schwartz. Stanford R. Ovshinsky: The Science and Technology of an American Genius. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co., 2008.
  • Hornblower, Margot. "Listen, Detroit: You'll Get a Charge Out of This." TIME, February 22, 1999, Heroes for the Planet.
  • Howard, George S. Stan Ovshinsky and the Hydrogen Economy:…Creating a Better World. Notre Dame: Academic Publications, 2006.
  • Kridel, Tim. "Meet Stan Ovshinsky, the Energy Genius." Mother Earth News (October/ November 2006), Issue 218.[7]
  • Kho, Jennifer. "Energy Conversion Devices' Turnaround: Is BIPV Finally Ready to Take Off?" Renewable Energy World, January 16, 2009.[8]
  • Shaiken, Harley. "The Einstein of Alternative Energy?" Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies (Spring 2008): 28–31.
  • Shaiken, Harley. "Jumpstarting the Americas." Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies (Fall 2008): 2–7.
  • Vaitheeswaran, Vijay V. "Invent." The New York Times Magazine, April 20, 2008, The Green Issue.[9]
  • Carlisle, Norman. "The Ovshinsky Invention" Science & Mechanics, (February 1970): 38–40.

External links edit

  • The City Club of Cleveland, September 23, 2011
  • The greatest scientist you've never heard of

stanford, ovshinsky, stanford, robert, ovshinsky, november, 1922, october, 2012, american, engineer, scientist, inventor, over, span, fifty, years, granted, well, over, patents, mostly, areas, energy, information, many, inventions, have, wide, ranging, applica. Stanford Robert Ovshinsky November 24 1922 October 17 2012 was an American engineer scientist and inventor who over a span of fifty years was granted well over 400 patents mostly in the areas of energy and information 1 Many of his inventions have had wide ranging applications Among the most prominent are the nickel metal hydride battery which has been widely used in laptop computers digital cameras cell phones and electric and hybrid cars flexible thin film solar energy laminates and panels flat panel liquid crystal displays rewritable CD and DVD discs hydrogen fuel cells and nonvolatile phase change memory 2 3 Stanford Robert OvshinskyStanford R Ovshinsky August 2005BornStanford Robert Ovshinsky 1922 11 24 November 24 1922Akron Ohio U S DiedOctober 17 2012 2012 10 17 aged 89 Bloomfield Hills Michigan U S NationalityAmericanOccupation s engineer scientist and InventorKnown forNickel metal hydride battery Phase change memorySpousesNorma Rifkin m 1943 div 1959 wbr Iris M Ovshinsky m 1960 died 2006 wbr Rosa Young m 2007 wbr Ovshinsky opened the scientific field of amorphous and disordered materials in the course of his research in the 1940s and 50s in neurophysiology neural disease the nature of intelligence in mammals and machines and cybernetics 4 5 Amorphous silicon semiconductors have become the basis of many technologies and industries Ovshinsky is also distinguished in being self taught without formal college or graduate training 5 Throughout his life his love for science and his social convictions were the primary engines for his inventive work 5 In 1960 Ovshinsky and his soon to be second wife Iris Dibner founded Energy Conversion Laboratory in a storefront in Detroit dedicating the laboratory to the solution of important societal problems using science and technology 5 Focusing on the critical areas of energy and information their new company reconstituted in 1964 as Energy Conversion Devices ECD went on to become a forefront invention and development laboratory whose products have built new industries many of them aimed at making fossil fuel obsolete ECD continues through joint ventures and license partners to be a leading solar energy and battery production firm 6 Roughly a year after Iris Ovshinsky s death in August 2006 Ovshinsky left ECD and established a new company Ovshinsky Innovation LLC devoted to developing the scientific basis for new energy and information technologies In October 2007 he married Rosa Young a physicist who had worked at ECD on numerous energy technologies including a hydrogen powered hybrid car and on Ovshinsky s vision of a hydrogen based economy Contents 1 Early life 2 Work through the 1950s 2 1 Work as a machinist and the Benjamin Center Drive 2 2 Intelligent machines 3 The Ovitron 4 Work from 1960 4 1 Energy Conversion Laboratory 4 2 Energy Conversion Devices 4 3 Ovshinsky Innovation LLC 4 4 General Motors and the US Auto Battery Consortium 5 Death 6 Honors and awards 6 1 Memberships and fellowships 6 2 Awards 7 In popular culture 8 See also 9 References 10 Bibliography 11 External linksEarly life editOvshinsky was born and grew up in the industrial town of Akron Ohio then at the center of the American rubber industry The elder son of working class Lithuanian Jewish immigrant parents who left Eastern Europe around 1905 Benjamin Ovshinsky from Lithuania and Bertha Munitz from what is now Belarus Ovshinsky became active in social activities at an early age during the Great Depression 7 His lifelong concern to better the lives of workers and minorities as well as to advance culture and the interests of industry derive largely from his father who was a generous liberal and highly cultured activist With his horse and wagon and later his truck Ben Ovshinsky made his living collecting scrap metal from factories and foundries 2 Based on his father s example and on teachings offered by the Akron Workmen s Circle an organization mainly of Jewish immigrants who believed in social justice Stan Ovshinsky developed a deep commitment to social values including labor rights civil rights and civil liberties 8 Work through the 1950s editWork as a machinist and the Benjamin Center Drive edit Before graduating from high school in June 1941 Ovshinsky worked as a teacher tool maker and machinist in various local shops affiliated with the rubber industry 9 During the Second World War he and his bride Norma Rifkin moved to Arizona where Ovshinsky worked for a time in the tool room of a Goodyear plant in Litchfield not far from Phoenix Returning to Akron shortly before the end of the war Ovshinsky eventually established his own machine company Stanford Roberts initially in a barn 10 There he developed and patented his first invention the Benjamin Center Drive named after his father 11 This unique automatic high speed center drive lathe had many important uses After Ovshinsky sold his company to the New Britain Machine Company in Connecticut it was used to help solve the national crisis of making artillery shells in large enough volume for wartime needs during the Korean War Meanwhile Ovshinsky continued to develop his growing interest in human and machine intelligence avidly studying the research literature on neurophysiology neurological disease and cybernetics corresponding briefly with Norbert Wiener 12 Intelligent machines edit In 1951 Ovshinsky accepted an offer to move to Detroit and work in the automotive industry as the director of research at the Hupp Motor Company Continuing his work on intelligent machines he invented electric power steering but Hupp s president was opposed to completing the arrangements with General Motors to utilize the product Not long after that Stan and his younger brother Herb Ovshinsky a talented mechanical engineer established a small company called General Automation in a Detroit storefront There Stan continued his study of intelligent machines and embarked on early research and development of various energy and information technologies At the same time he began studying neurophysiology and neurological diseases 5 On the basis of his early writings about nerve impulses and the nature of intelligence he was invited by Wayne Medical School in June 1955 to participate in pioneering experimental research on the mammalian cerebellum The Ovitron editBy the late 1950s working at General Automation Ovshinsky brought together these disparate studies in an invention Crossing scientific disciplines that academics traditionally hold separate including neurophysiology and cybernetics Stan invented and Herb Ovshinsky helped build a mechanical model of a nerve cell an amorphous thin film switch they called the Ovitron Stan patented the device and the brothers disclosed it publicly in 1959 in New York City In an attempt to model the learning ability of nerve cells which Stan recognized as deriving from the plasticity of the cell s membrane he drew on his knowledge of surfaces and materials to fashion very thin layers of amorphous material thus pioneering the use of nanostructures He created these layers by combining elements especially from the Group 16 elements under oxygen known as chalcogenides including sulphur selenium and tellurium He would continue to work with chalcogenides in his inventions for decades to come 12 Work from 1960 editEnergy Conversion Laboratory edit On January 1 1960 Ovshinsky and Iris Miroy Dibner whom he married soon after his divorce from Norma Rifkin founded Energy Conversion Laboratory to develop his inventions in the interest of solving societal problems especially those they identified in the areas of information and energy e g pollution and wars over oil 13 Iris had a BA in zoology from Swarthmore College an MS in biology from the University of Michigan and a PhD in biochemistry from Boston University 14 Continuing to work on his atomically designed chalcogenide materials which Ovshinsky realized offer unique electronic physical mechanisms he utilized chain structures cross links polymeric concepts and divalent structural bonding with a huge number of unbonded lone pairs to achieve what is now referred to as the Ovshinsky Effect an effect that turns special types of glassy thin films into semiconductors upon application of low voltage 15 Applying this effect he built new types of electronic and optical switches including his Ovonic Phase Change Memory and his Threshold Switch The former would become the basis of his subsequent inventions of rewritable CDs and DVDs and other new computer technologies including his cognitive computer 4 The latter is used in phase change memory that is entering the consumer market in 2017 16 While others working in the crystalline field were building devices based on bulk materials Ovshinsky s work in the 1960s and later continued to be based on thin films and nanostructures 4 Recognizing the significance of his results Ovshinsky applied for a patent on June 21 1961 and in 1962 made his first licensing pact on phase change memory Energy Conversion Devices edit By the spring of 1963 the Ovshinskys had exhausted the savings with which they had initially funded ECL Before seeking public funding Stan wanted validation of the importance of his work from a well recognized scientist He telephoned Nobel Laureate John Bardeen a co inventor of the transistor and co discoverer of the BCS theory of superconductivity Bardeen immediately recognized the importance of Ovshinsky s work but his schedule did not permit him to visit ECL for five months Stan replied We ll be broke by then 12 In his place Bardeen sent Hellmut Fritzsche a University of Chicago physicist Fritzsche became very positive in his support of Ovshinsky s work and helped attract other scientists to the Ovshinsky laboratory As Fritzsche and Brian Schwartz later wrote There is a mysterious quality in Ovshinsky s persona that attracts people into his sphere builds life long friendships and awakens deep respect and devotion Meeting him leaves each person with a deep impression of his superior intellect his self confidence his compassion to improve society combined with his certainty that his vision can be realized His enthusiasm is contagious In his presence you feel how exciting it would be to join him in his endeavors 5 Among the many famous scientists who came regularly to ECL as friends or collaborators over the next years were David Adler Bardeen Arthur Bienenstock Morrel H Cohen Kenichi Fukui William Lipscomb Sir Nevill Mott Linus Pauling Isadore I Rabi Edward Teller David Turnbull Victor Weisskopf and Robert R Wilson 4 5 17 18 Some joined as consultants or as members of the Board of Directors Meanwhile the ECL community developed a uniquely productive non hierarchical multicultural international environment reflecting Stan and Iris social values In 1964 Stan and Iris changed the laboratory s name to Energy Conversion Devices and moved the company to larger quarters in Troy Michigan The company continued to develop electronic memory batteries and solar cells reinvesting almost every penny of profit into the scientific study of a wide variety of problems much of which later became the basis of lucrative industries e g flat screen liquid crystal displays In time license fees to ECD began to grow especially when amorphous silicon was used to make solar cells by the mile with an approach that originated from Ovshinsky s non silver photographic film work 2 It led to the bold approach of using the first continuous web photovoltaic machine designed and built under Stan s direction by Herb Ovshinsky and a small group in the machine division Generations of machines later resulted in sufficient money to reach Ovshinsky s objective of building a 30 megawatt machine rather than a 5 megawatt machine Despite considerable skepticism toward the machine it is now being cloned very successfully by ECD in new plants 13 ECD also saw profits from the nickel metal hydride batteries which were important for a time in laptop computers and continue to be important in hybrid gas electric automobiles 4 13 Ovshinsky Innovation LLC edit On August 16 2006 Iris Ovshinsky Stan s wife and partner of almost fifty years died suddenly while swimming 19 A year later Ovshinsky retired from ECD and launched a new company with Rosa Young whom he later married At Ovshinsky Innovation LLC he continued his work on information and energy science in strong relationships with colleagues and with industrial partners for example Ovonyx which is developing phase change semiconductor memory Ovshinsky Innovation is currently focusing on a new kind of photovoltaic plant based on a new concept promising to lower the cost of photovoltaic energy sources below that of coal 12 This latter innovation would help realize his long term goal over the last half century to make fossil fuels obsolete while at the same time providing countless jobs in new industries ECD has been recognized as the company that developed solar roofing shingles in the 1990s and making the best available flexible thin film in the world in addition to being one of the first companies to work on building integrated photovoltaics BIPV 20 Because of his independent and radical contributions to science he has been compared with Albert Einstein 21 Because of his many inventions in digital memory solar energy battery technology optical media and solid hydrogen storage and his hundreds of basic scientific patents he has often been compared with Thomas Edison 3 4 13 In the area of alternatives to fossil fuel his pioneering work has caused many writers to refer to him as the modern world s most important energy visionary 22 General Motors and the US Auto Battery Consortium edit nbsp The Ovonics technology was acquired by General Motors for use in its EV1 electric car but production was ended shortly after the NiMH batteries began to replace the lead acid batteries of earlier modelsIn an interview in the 2006 documentary Who Killed the Electric Car Ovshinsky stated that in the early 1990s the auto industry created the US Auto Battery Consortium USABC to stifle the development of electric vehicle technology by preventing the dissemination of knowledge about Ovshinsky s battery related patents to the public through the California Air Resources Board CARB 23 According to Ovshinsky the auto industry falsely suggested that NiMH technology was not yet ready for widespread use in road cars 24 Members of the USABC including General Motors Ford and Chrysler threatened to take legal action against Ovshinsky if he continued to promote NiMH s potential for use in BEVs and if he continued to lend test batteries to Solectria a start up electric vehicle maker that was not part of the USABC Critics argue that the Big Three were more interested in convincing CARB members that electric vehicles were not technologically and commercially viable 23 In 1994 General Motors acquired a controlling interest in Ovonics s battery development and manufacture including patents controlling the manufacture of large NiMH batteries The original intent of the equity alliance was to develop NiMH batteries for GM s EV1 BEV Sales of GM Ovonics batteries were later taken over by GM manager and critic of CARB John Williams leading Ovshinsky to wonder whether his decision to sell to GM had been naive 23 The EV1 program was shut down by GM before the new NiMH battery could be commercialized despite field tests that indicated the Ovonics battery extended the EV1 s range to over 150 miles 23 Death editHis last public appearance was at Louis Riel School in Calgary Alberta Canada Ovshinsky died of prostate cancer on October 17 2012 aged 89 in Bloomfield Hills Michigan 25 26 Honors and awards editWith more than 300 publications on his curriculum vitae Ovshinsky has won many prizes for his contributions to science and innovation 1 Memberships and fellowships edit Fellow of the American Physical Society Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow of the Engineering Society of Detroit Member of the Director s Council at the Michigan Center for Theoretical Physics University of MichiganAwards edit 2005 Innovation Award for Energy and the Environment by The Economist American Solar Energy Society Hoyt Clarke Hottel Award Karl W Boer Solar Energy Medal of Merit International Association for Hydrogen Energy Sir William Grove Award 2007 Walston Chubb Award for Innovation presented by Sigma Xi the Research Society Frederick Douglass Eugene V Debs Award 2006 Engineering Society of Detroit Lifetime Achievement Award 2008 Environmental Hall of Fame 2008 Award Solar Thin Film Category Father of Thin Film Solar Energy IEEE Vehicular Technology Society Presidential Citation in recognition of a long and outstanding record of pioneering accomplishments and service to the profession 2009 2009 Thomas Midgley Award from the Detroit Section of the American Chemical Society Nominated as a finalist for the prestigious European Inventor Award 2012 by the European Patent Office for his development of NiMH batteries The award was launched in 2006 as the first European prize to distinguish inventors who have made an outstanding contribution to innovation economy and society Named Hero for the Planet by TIME magazine 1999 with Iris Ovshinsky Hero of Chemistry 2000 by the American Chemical Society Inducted into the 2005 Solar Hall of Fame Diesel Gold Medal presented by the German Inventors Association Deutscher Erfinderverband in recognition of his discovery of the semiconductor switching effect in disordered and amorphous materials 1968 Honorary Calgarian award at Louis Riel School in Calgary Canada May 24 2012 Honorary Doctorate of Engineering degree from Kettering University Flint Michigan December 11 2010 27 Honorary Doctorate of Science degree from University of Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan May 1 2010 Honorary Doctorate in Science from Wayne State University Detroit Michigan May 7 2009 Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago Illinois May 16 2009 Honorary Doctorate from Ovidius University Constanţa Romania June 30 2009 Honorary Doctorate of Science from New York Institute of Technology Old Westbury New York May 18 2008 28 Honorary Doctorate of Science from Kean University Union New Jersey May 8 2007 In 2015 Ovshinsky was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame In popular culture editOvshinsky appeared in the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car as well as in parts 1 and 3 of the episode Hydrogen Hopes of Alan Alda s television series Scientific American Frontiers The website of Scientific American Frontiers makes Hydrogen Hopes available for viewing at no charge as well as the text of an interview with Stan and Iris Ovshinsky 29 Ovshinsky was profiled as Japan s American Genius in the PBS series NOVA October 1987 See also editHarold McMaster General Motors EV1 Patent encumbrance of large automotive NiMH batteriesReferences edit a b Avery Cohn A Revolution Fueled by the Sun Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies Spring 2008 p 22 a b c The Edison of our Age The Economist December 2 2006 pp 33 34 a b Hellmut Fritzsche and Brian Schwartz Stanford R Ovshinsky The Science and Technology of an American Genius Singapore World Scientific 2008 p 1 a b c d e f The Edison of our Age The Economist December 2 2006 a b c d e f g Hellmut Fritzsche and Brian Schwartz Stanford R Ovshinsky The Science and Technology of an American Genius Singapore World Scientific 2008 pp 3 5 51 John Fialka Power Surge After Decades A Solar Pioneer Sees Spark in Sales Wall Street Journal November 27 2006 gt The Edison of our Age George S Howard Stan Ovshinsky and the Hydrogen Economy Creating a Better World Notre Dame Academic Publications 2006 pp 13 15 George S Howard Stan Ovshinsky and the Hydrogen Economy Creating a Better World Notre Dame Academic Publications 2006 p 14 George S Howard Stan Ovshinsky and the Hydrogen Economy Creating a Better World Notre Dame AcademicPublications 2006 p 23 Margot Hornblower Listen Detroit You ll Get a Charge Out of This Time Heroes for the Planet February 22 1999 p 80 George S Howard Stan Ovshinsky and the Hydrogen Economy Creating a Better World Notre Dame Academic Publications 2006 p 50 a b c d Interview with Stanford and Iris Ovshinsky by Lillian Hoddeson January 4 5 2006 July 19 20 2006 and August 16 2006 available in Hoddeson s private collection Urbana IL a b c d Vijay V Vaitheeswaran Invent The New York Times Magazine April 20 2008 The green issue Hellmut Fritzsche and Brian Schwartz Stanford R Ovshinsky The Science and Technology of an American Genius Singapore World Scientific 2008 p 17 v 1 1 of the Random House Unabridged Dictionary 2006 Allyn Malventano 2 June 2017 How 3D XPoint Phase Change Memory Works Selectors Scaleability and Conclusion www pcper com Retrieved 4 November 2017 George S Howard Stan Ovshinsky and the Hydrogen Economy Creating a Better World Notre Dame Academic Publications 2006 pp 68 69 Harley Shaiken The Einstein of alternative energy Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies Spring 2008 pp 28 29 Jeremy W Peters Iris M Ovshinsky 79 Partner in Cleaner Auto Technology is Dead New York Times September 5 2006 Jennifer Kho Energy Conversion Devices turnaround Is BIPV finally ready to take off Renewable Energy World January 16 2009 and Dominique Browning Extreme Makeover White House Edition The Wall Street Journal January 16 2009 W1 Harley Shaiken The Einstein of alternative energy and Harley Shaiken Jumpstarting the Americas Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies Fall 2008 pp 2 7 Iain Carson and Vijay V Vaitheeswaran Zoom The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future Hachette NY Twelve 2007 p 5 a b c d Shnayerson Michael 1996 08 27 The Car That Could The Inside Story of GM s Revolutionary Electric Vehicle Random House pp 194 207 ISBN 978 0679421054 Coker M 2003 05 15 Dude Wheres My Electric Car Orange County Weekly Archived from the original on 2009 05 24 Retrieved 2009 10 08 Welcome to nginx eaa1a9e1db47ffcca16305566a6efba4 185 15 56 1 Archived from the original on 2012 12 09 Retrieved 2012 10 28 Barnaby J Feder October 18 2012 Stanford R Ovshinsky Dies at 89 a Self Taught Maverick in Electronics New York Times Retrieved 2012 10 19 died on Wednesday at his home in Bloomfield Hills Mich He was 89 The cause was prostate cancer his son Harvey said Beata Mostafavi 9 December 2010 Kettering University and University of Michigan Flint to hold commencement ceremonies Energy icon Stanford Ovshinsky to be honored The Flint Journal Retrieved 27 December 2010 NYIT Announces 2008 Speakers and Honorary Degree Recipients May 2008 Stanford R Ovshinsky on season 15 episode 6 Scientific American Frontiers Chedd Angier Production Company 2005 PBS Archived from the original on 2006 01 01 Bibliography editHoddeson Lillian and Peter Garrett The Man Who Saw Tomorrow The Life and Inventions of Stanford R Ovshinsky Cambridge MIT Press 2018 Henderson Tom Crain s Detroit Business Quest for holy grail of solar drives Ovshinsky January 2 8 2012 vol 28 no 1 Sigma Xi 125th Anniversary Interview Stanford R Ovshinsky 1990 interviewed by Greg P Smestad 1 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Stanford Ovshinsky Pursuing solar electricity at a cost equal to or lower than that of coal electricity May 2011 vol 67 no 3 1 7 2 Fisher Lawrence M Stan Ovshinsky s Solar Revolution strategy business Spring 2011 62 71 3 Herbert Bob Signs of Hope The New York Times Magazine November 24 2009 4 Carson Iain and Vijay Vaitheeswaran Zoom The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future Hachette New York Twelve 2007 Cohn Avery A Revolution Fueled by the Sun Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies Spring 2008 22 24 The Edison of our Age The Economist December 2 2006 5 Fialka John Power Surge After Decades A Solar Pioneer Sees Spark in Sales Wall Street Journal November 27 2006 Fritzsche Hellmut and Brian Schwartz Stanford R Ovshinsky The Science and Technology of an American Genius Singapore World Scientific Publishing Co 2008 Hornblower Margot Listen Detroit You ll Get a Charge Out of This TIME February 22 1999 Heroes for the Planet 6 Howard George S Stan Ovshinsky and the Hydrogen Economy Creating a Better World Notre Dame Academic Publications 2006 Kridel Tim Meet Stan Ovshinsky the Energy Genius Mother Earth News October November 2006 Issue 218 7 Kho Jennifer Energy Conversion Devices Turnaround Is BIPV Finally Ready to Take Off Renewable Energy World January 16 2009 8 Shaiken Harley The Einstein of Alternative Energy Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies Spring 2008 28 31 Shaiken Harley Jumpstarting the Americas Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies Fall 2008 2 7 Vaitheeswaran Vijay V Invent The New York Times Magazine April 20 2008 The Green Issue 9 Carlisle Norman The Ovshinsky Invention Science amp Mechanics February 1970 38 40 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stanford Ovshinsky The City Club of Cleveland September 23 2011 OnInnovation Stan Ovshinsky Visionary of Solar Hydrogen Based Economy The Henry Ford Stanford R Ovshinsky Alternative Energy and the Americas April 8 2008 The greatest scientist you ve never heard of Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Stanford R Ovshinsky amp oldid 1214115825, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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