George Edward Alcorn Jr.

George Edward Alcorn Jr. (born March 21, 1940) is an American physicist and inventor who worked primarily for IBM and NASA. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2015.

George Edward Alcorn Jr.

Early life

Alcorn was born on March 22, 1940 then, to Arletta Dixon Alcorn in Indianapolis, Indiana.[1]

Education

Alcorn received a four-year academic scholarship to Occidental College in Los Angeles, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Physics. He received his degree with honors while earning eight letters in basketball and football. Alcorn earned a Master of Science in Nuclear Physics in 1963 from Howard University, after nine months of study. During the summers of 1962 and 1963, he worked as a research engineer for the Space Division of North American Rockwell. He was involved with the computer analysis of launch trajectories and orbital mechanics for Rockwell missiles, including the Titan I and II, the Saturn and the Nova.[1] After earning a PhD in Molecular and Atomic Physics from Howard University in 1967, he went on to hold teaching positions in electrical engineering at Howard University and the University of the District of Columbia, eventually rising to the rank of full professor.[2]

Private Industry Work

After earning his PhD, Alcorn spent twelve years working in the private sector.[3] He held positions as senior scientist at Philco-Ford, senior physicist at Perkin-Elmer, and advisory engineer at IBM.[3]

Inventions

One of Alcorn's best-known inventions is the X-ray spectrometer, which earned him the NASA–Goddard Space Flight Center award for Inventor of the Year in 1984.[2] Other significant inventions concerned plasma etching for semiconductor devices. In 1999, Alcorn was honored with an award from Government Executive magazine for developing the Airborne LIDAR Topographic Mapping System (ALTMS) in partnership with the Houston Advanced Research Center.[2]

Patents issued
  • #4,172,004, 10/23/1979, Method for forming dense dry etched multi-level metallurgy with non-overlapped vias
  • #4,201,800, 5/6/1980, Hardened photoresist master image mask process
  • #4,289,834, 9/15/1981, Dense dry etched multi-level metallurgy with non-overlapped vias
  • #4,472,728, 9/18/1984, Imaging X-ray spectrometer[4]
  • #4,543,442, 9/24/1985, GaAs Schottky barrier photo-responsive device and method of fabrication
  • #4,618,380, 10/21/1986, Method of fabricating an imaging X-ray spectrometer
  • #4,062,720, 12/13/1977, Process for forming ledge-free aluminum copper silicon conductor structure
  • #3,986,912, 10/19/1976, Process for controlling the wall inclination of a plasma etched via hole

References
  1. Chamberlain, Gaius (November 26, 2012). "George Alcorn". The Black Inventor Online Museum. Adscape International. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  2. "Alcorn, George Edward, Jr". Oxford African American Studies Center. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.36041. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  3. "George Edward Alcorn - Physicist of the African Diaspora". www.math.buffalo.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  4. Bellis, Mary. "Famous Inventors A to Z". About. Retrieved February 11, 2017.


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