Silver, Samuel, 1915-

Professor of electrical engineering; director of the Electronics Research Laboratory and founder and first director of the Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley.

Epithet: Reverend

Biography

Samuel Silver was born on February 25, 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Boris and Molly (Agrin) Silver. His early schooling was in Philadelphia and he attended Temple University there from 1931 to 1937, graduating with an M.A. in physics with a mathematics minor. He received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1940 with a dissertation on vibrational state of polyatomic molecules and worked then as a research assistant at the Mendenhall Laboratory of Physics of Ohio State University. From 1941 to January of 1943 he was, successively, instructor and assistant professor of physics at the University of Oklahoma. He returned to M.I.T. in 1943 to work with the antenna group at the Radiation Laboratory on the theory of microwave antennas and networks. In 1946 he went on to head a basic research group at the newly formed Antenna Research Branch of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.

In the Fall of 1947 he joined the staff of the University of California, Berkeley and in 1950 he was appointed professor of electrical engineering. In 1950 he also began active membership in the International Union of Radio Science. He was to remain associated with both of these organizations throughout the rest of his life.

In 1951 he became the chairman of Commission VI of the U.S. National Committee of U.R.S.I. He served until 1953 when he became chairman of the International Commission VI of the International Union of Radio Science, a position he held until 1960.

On the academic front, in 1956 he became the director of the Electronics Research Laboratory of the Department of Electrical Engineering and the Institute of Engineering Research. There he developed the research program on microwave antennas, applied electromagnetic theory and related areas of microwave electronics. In 1960 he was appointed the first director of the newly formed Space Sciences Laboratory. At this point his interests broadened to include upper atmosphere studies, solar phenomena in the microwave region and studies in the space sciences in general. In 1969 poor health forced him to retire from the directorship, but he continued his academic work as professor of engineering science until his death in 1976.