Foster, Bill, 1955-
Variant namesGeorge William Foster (born October 7, 1955) is an American businessman, physicist, and U.S. representative for Illinois's 11th congressional district, winning the seat in 2012. He was previously the U.S. representative for Illinois's 14th congressional district from 2008 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
At age 19, Foster and his younger brother Fred started a business in their basement with $500 from their parents. The company, Electronic Theatre Controls (ETC), in 2008 had approximately 650 employees worldwide and manufactured over half of the theater lighting equipment in the United States. After completing his Ph.D., Foster moved to the Fox Valley to pursue a career in high-energy (particle) physics at Fermilab, a Department of Energy National Laboratory. During Foster's 22 years at Fermilab he participated in several projects, including the design of equipment and data analysis software for the CDF Detector, which were used in the discovery of the top quark, and the management of the design and construction of a 3 km Anti-Proton Recycler Ring for the Main Injector. He has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society, was on the team receiving the 1989 Bruno Rossi Prize for cosmic ray physics for the discovery of the neutrino burst from the supernova SN 1987A, received the Particle Accelerator Technology Prize from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and was awarded an Energy Conservation award from the United States Department of Energy for his application of permanent magnets for Fermilab's accelerators.
Foster was elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Tenth Congress, by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of United States Representative John Dennis Hastert, and reelected to the succeeding Congress (March 8, 2008-January 3, 2011). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the One Hundred Twelfth Congress in 2010, then elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Thirteenth and to the four succeeding Congresses (January 3, 2013-present).
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alumnusOrAlumnaOf | Harvard University | corporateBody |
employeeOf | United States. Department of Energy | corporateBody |
alumnusOrAlumnaOf | University of Wisconsin--Madison | corporateBody |
memberOf | U.S. Congress. House of Representatives. | corporateBody |
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Washington, D. C. | DC | US | |
Madison | WI | US | |
Illinois | IL | US |
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Physicist |
Representatives, U.S. Congress |
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Person
Birth 1955-10-07
Male
Americans
English