That's the Black Fact: Introducing James Edward Maceo West
James Edward Maceo West
“Welcome to ‘That’s the Black Fact’. In this space you’ll find profiles on the culture and the people who built it!”
By: Ervin Green
Introducing James Edward Maceo West, inventor and acoustician!
James Edward Maceo West 1931 -
Dr. West was born in Prince Edwards County, Virginia on February 10, 1931. West was deeply interested in radio and electronics from an early age, and he trained as a physicist. After graduating from Temple University in 1956 where he interned with Bell Labs during the summer breaks, they hired him and he began working in research on how humans hear led to his invention of the foil electret microphone in 1960.
If you've ever used a microphone, and most have, you can salute James West for it. Such devices were more sensitive, yet they used less power and were smaller than other microphones at the time, and they revolutionized the field of acoustics. Today, foil electret-style mics are used in everything from telephones to computers.
James West holds 47 patents in the United States and more than 200 foreign patents on microphones and techniques for making polymer electrets.
Dr. West was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame in 1999. He retired in 2001 after 40 years of service at Bell Laboratories, but he wasn’t finished! He took a Research Professor position with John’s Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering.
So as you’re doing interviews, being interviewed, or find yourself around a microphone for any other reason, you can thank Dr. West for his contribution.
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