'Amos Edward Joel, Jr.' (born
March 12 1918 in
Philadelphia)
[1] is an American
electrical engineer, known for several contributions and over seventy patents related to telecommunications switching systems.
He earned his
B.Sc. (1940) and
M.Sc. (1942) in
electrical engineering from
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked on the
Rockefeller-funded
differential analyzer (project headed by
Vannevar Bush), and a thesis on functional design of relays and switch circuits, advised by
Samuel H. Caldwell.
Joel worked at
Bell Labs (1940-83) where he first undertook
cryptology studies (collaboration with
Claude Shannon), followed by studies on
electronic switching system that resulted in the
1ESS switch (1948-60). He then headed the development of advanced telephone services (1961-68), which led to several
patents, including one on
Traffic Service Position System[2] and
a mechanism for
handoff in cellular communication (1972).
[2]
Since 1983 he worked as a consultant to
AT&T, developing mechanisms for
optical switching.
[2]
Publications
★ ''Electronic Switching: Central Office Systems of the World'' (
IEEE Press, 1976)
★ With
Robert J. Chapuis (eds.): ''100 Years of Telephone Switching (1878-1978: Part 1: Manual and Electromechanical Switching)'',
Elsevier 1982. Part 2: ''Electronics, Computers and Telephone Switching'' (
Elsevier, 1990).
★ ''A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System the Early Years 1875-1925'' (
Bell Labs, 1985)
★ ''
Asynchronous Transfer Mode'' (
IEEE Press, 1993)
Achievements
★
New Jersey state's outstanding patent (1972)
★
IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal (1976)
★
Franklin Institute's Stuart Ballantine Medal (1981)
★ Columbian Medal (
Genoa, 1983)
★
National Academy of Engineering (1981).
★
ITU Centenary Prize (1983)
★
Kyoto Prize (1989)
★
New Jersey Inventor of the year (1989)
★
IEEE Medal of Honor (1992)
★
IEEE Fellow
★
National Medal of Technology (1993)
References
1. Amos Joels interview from IEEE
2.
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