James edward west biography

He holds more than 70 U. Plan Your Visit Exhibits. Back to Inductee Search James E. West Electret Microphone. Patent No. Sessler, a German-born physicist, and the two were tasked to develop an inexpensive, highly sensitive and compact microphone. At the time, condenser microphones were used in most telephones, but were expensive to manufacture and necessitated the use of a large battery source.

James edward west biography

Microphones convert sound waves into electrical voltages, thus allowing the sound to be transmitted through a cord to a receiver. While the foil-electret microphone was his most noted invention, West obtained more than U. Perhaps his most significant contributions are his efforts to increase minority and female participation in the field of science.

A pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants, including a synthetic form of cortisone. A pioneer in the field of blood transfusions who developed improved techniques for blood storage. Invented lubrication systems for steam engines. Some of the remedy was grown in Africa, but I sent for it, mixed it, put it on my scalp, and in a few weeks my hair was coming in faster than it had ever fallen out.

I tried it on my friends; it helped them. I made up my mind I would begin to sell it. Ars Technica. Johns Hopkins Magazine. Langley Research Center. Retrieved October 21, Chemistry World. Royal Society of Chemistry. Retrieved February 24, Retrieved July 12, December 1, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. Bibcode : ASAJ ISSN June 1, May 10, Retrieved March 9, August 1, S2CID Bibcode : ASAJ..

PMID The Washington Post. Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering. Retrieved February 21, April 21, Archived from the original on May 27, Archived from the original on July 21, The Ingenuity Project. 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. As a child, he was intrigued by how things worked and enjoyed taking apart appliances. 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. He received a bachelor's degree in physics in , and was hired for a full-time position as an acoustical scientist by Bell. In , while at Bell, West teamed up with fellow scientist Gerhard M. Sessler to develop an inexpensive, highly sensitive, compact microphone. In , they finished development on the product, which relied on their invention of electret transducers.