Research Areas

Biography

Received his B.S.E. at the University of Michigan in 1946, M.S.E. University of Michigan, 1948, and Ph. D. Stanford University, 1951. From 1951-1955 he worked at Hughes Aircraft Company on microwave tubes, including resistive-wall, reactive-wall and rippled-wall amplifiers, as well as periodic structures (e.g., ring-bar helix) and large-C analysis for high power traveling-wave tubes, leading to the first multikilowatt TWT at X-band. From 1955-59 he was at the General Electric Microwave Laboratory as leader of the electron physics group, with work on electron guns, streams and traveling-wave tubes. The work at Hughes and General Electric led to publication of 14 journal articles, granting of 27 patents (most co-authored) and election to Fellow of IEEE. In 1959 he joined the Electrical Engineering Department, UC Berkeley.

Professor Birdsall passed away in 2012.

Selected Publications

Awards, Memberships and Fellowships