James Edward West
James E. West, a research professor at Johns Hopkins University’s Whiting School of Engineering, is best known as the co-inventor of the foil-electret transducer, an inexpensive but highly sensitive device that revolutionized the sound industry and is now the basis of sound transmission in most cell phones, hearing aids, professional microphones, and other acoustical equipment. In a career at Bell Laboratories that spanned more than forty years, he earned 47 U.S. and over foreign patents for a range of technological inventions and innovations.
West was born in the rural community of Farmville, Virginia. His interest in electricity was sparked when he was about nine years old and plugged an old radio into an outlet while standing on a metal bed on a humid day. An electrical charge temporarily paralyzed his body but made a more lasting impression on his mind. His brothers rescued him by pulling him away from the outlet, but the experience left him determined to explore and understand electricity.
He pursued a career in electronics despite his parents’ warnings that as a black man in the era of segregation he would never find professional employment in
James Edward Maceo West ( )
The work of James Edward Maceo West transformed the way people around the world hear and transmit sound. In , West, then a research scientist at Bell Laboratories, developed the foil electret microphone in partnership with his colleague Dr. Gerhard M. Sessler. Until that time, most microphones, which transform sound into an electrical signal, needed a cumbersome and expensive battery in order to operate. By contrast, West and Sessler used an electret, in their case, Teflon, to drive the sound conversion. Electrets are materials that can be permanently charged or polarized following exposure to an electric field. The foil electret microphone saved space and money and proved quite sensitive to sound as well. It improved hearing aids, for instance, allowing those wearing them to take a walk without painful vibrations. The technology has also been used to aid with blood pressure readings and in the U.S. space program. It is now the standard in cell phones, computers, hearing aids, and audio recording equipment.
Born February 10, , in Farmville, Virginia, West had an interest in science from an early age. While still in elementary school he inadvertent
James E. West
James West and Gerhard Sessler invented the electret microphone, which has advanced the sound industry and become the standard microphone used in products from music recording equipment to hearing aid devices.
West was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia. His mother Matilda gave birth at their family’s home, built by her father, because the nearby hospital in the town of Farmville would only admit white patients. West grew up wanting to understand how things work, often taking apart items like his grandfather’s pocket watch to explore the inner mechanics. He also developed a desire to change how some things work.
His curiosity was encouraged by his parents, who initially expected him to pursue a career as a doctor. His mother was one of the human computers who became known as the “Hidden Figures.” “She went from teaching at a school to working at Langley Research Center and was also an active officer in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,” said West.
When Langley ultimately fired West’s mother in reaction to her work with the NAACP, this was one of many experiences that fueled his determination to advocate for greater diversity
James West
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Who Is James West?
James West attended Temple University before working for Bell Labs. Along with Gerhard M. Sessler, he developed the foil electret microphone, an inexpensive, compact device that is now used in 90 percent of all contemporary microphones. A prolific writer as well, West has more than patents and became a professor at Johns Hopkins University.
Early Life
West was born on February 10, , in Prince Edward County, Virginia. As a child, he was intrigued by how things worked and enjoyed taking apart appliances. "If I had a screwdriver and a pair of pliers, anything that could be opened was in danger," West would later recollect. "I had this need to know what was inside."
After an accident with a radio he had tinkered with, West became enthralled with the concept of electricity. He knew he wanted to pursue his interest in science academically, though his parents were concerned about future job prospects for an African American scientist, due to the racism and Jim Crow laws of the South. They preferred for him to become a physician.
Education
Undeterred, West headed to Temple University in to study physics and worked during
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