IN MEMORIAM
WILLIS ALFRED ADCOCK
Willis Alfred Adcock was born in St. John’s, Quebec, Canada
on November 25, 1922, and died in Austin, Texas, on December
16, 2003. He immigrated to the United States in 1936 and became
an American citizen in 1944. Dr. Adcock was an inventor, physicist,
electrical engineer, and educator. After a distinguished career
with Texas Instruments, he became a professor of electrical and
computer engineering at The University of Texas in 1986. In the
same year, he was appointed to the Cockrell Family Regents Chair,
a position he held until becoming chair professor emeritus in
1993.
After attending high school in upper New York, Dr. Adcock attended
Hobart College, where he earned a B.S. cum laude in 1943. He
joined the United States Army in 1944 and became a technical
staff member in the Clinton Laboratories at Oak Ridge, Tennessee
where he was a very junior member of the team that worked on
the development of the atomic bomb. He loved to tell the story
of how one day an army officer took him into Knoxville, found
a federal judge, and ordered that G.I. Adcock be naturalized
so he could get a security clearance. No questions could be asked
of him other than his name, rank, and serial number!
After the war, Dr. Adcock pursued graduate studies at Brown University,
receiving his Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1948. From then
until 1953, he was a technical staff member for Stanolind Oil
and Gas Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1953, he joined Texas
Instruments in Dallas, where he was to make tremendous contributions
to his field as manager of the development department and manager
of the integrated circuits department. He recruited Jack Kilby
to Texas Instruments and supported the research that led to the
invention of the integrated circuit in 1958.
Part of Dr. Adcock’s work at Texas Instruments involved
growing the first silicon boule that permitted construction of
the silicon transistor which made the company a world leader
in semiconductors. The technological impact of these silicon
transistors in the field of microelectronics cannot be overemphasized.
In a seminal paper by Drs. Adcock and Gordon Teal presented in
May 1954 to the National Conference on Airborne Electronics in
Dayton, Ohio, entitled, "Some recent developments in silicon
and germanium materials and devices," the two researchers
described the first working silicon transistors. Their achievement
was a technological tour-de-force because silicon was a much
harder material than germanium to purify and crystallize. However,
the inherent electronic properties of silicon were superior to
those of germanium, leading to much lower electrical leakage
in transistors at high operating temperatures.
In Crystal Fire, a book by Michael Riordan and Lillian Hoddeson
(W.W. Norton and Co., 1997), the authors describe how, at the
1954 Ohio conference, Drs. Adcock and Teal dunked a record player
amplifier made of germanium transistors into hot oil, causing
the player to instantly quit. However, a similar amplifier made
of the brand new silicon transistors kept the record player working,
and the dulcet notes from Artie Shaw's "Summit Ridge Drive" kept
pouring out. These silicon transistors were to rapidly supplant
the then-prevailing germanium devices. For example, the military,
which needed their electronic hardware to function at environmental
extremes, found a godsend in these new devices.
Dr. Adcock left Texas Instruments briefly in 1964 to work as
technical director for Sperry Semiconductor in Norwalk, Connecticut,
but he returned in 1965 as manager of advanced planning and technical
development. He was later made assistant vice president and finally
vice president of corporate staff from 1982-86. He retired from
Texas Instruments in 1986 as vice president and principal fellow.
After retiring from Texas Instruments, Dr. Adcock moved to Austin,
Texas, where he became a professor of electrical and computer
engineering at The University of Texas and held the Cockrell
Family Regents Chair. While at the University, Dr. Adcock established
a vigorous research program on semiconductor manufacturing. As
part of the program, he also developed a very well-received graduate
course on Statistical Process Control and Design of Experiments.
When the research consortium SEMATECH was established in Austin
to re-establish U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing
in the face of Japanese competition, Drs. Adcock and Al Tasch
were instrumental in the 1988 establishment of the SEMATECH Research
Center of Excellence at the University. Dr. Adcock was the founding
director of this research center which led to very fruitful interaction
between the University and SEMATECH.
In 1993, Dr. Adcock became chair professor emeritus of the electrical
and computer engineering department. He was a Fellow of the I.E.E.E.
and the A.A.A.S., and he was a member of the National Academy
of Engineering and the American Chemical Society. He was also
a member of Sigma Xi and Phi Beta Kappa as well as a Principal
Fellow of the Texas Institute. In 1989, he was awarded an honorary
degree from his alma mater, Hobart College. Among his many other
accomplishments, Dr. Adcock held a number of basic patents for
digital photography, and at the time of his death he was working
on his unique torque converter. His first patent in this area
was issued on June 3, 2003, just seven months before his passing.
As indicated by his work on the torque converter, in retirement
Dr. Adcock was as active as ever. He served for a time as president
of both the Texas Instruments Austin Retirees Club and of the
Austin English Speaking Union. He was a member of the McDonald
Observatory’s Visitors Council, and he and his wife, Sara,
enjoyed the Austin Symphony and the Austin Lyric Opera. The couple
loved to travel and made numerous trips, including tours of the
British Isles and Ireland with groups from their church, the
Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Austin.
Dr. Adcock married Eleanor Goller in 1943. They had four children
before Eleanor passed away. In December 1970, he married Sara
McCoy Adcock, and they were living in Austin at the time of his
death in 2003. Anyone who knew Willis would happily concur with
the words of T.R. Reid, who in his classic book, The Chip:
How Two Americans Invented the Microchip and Launched a Revolution, (Simon and Schuster, 1984, p. 11) described Willis Adcock as “a
zesty sprite who talks a mile a minute and still can’t
keep up with his racing train of thought.” Those of us
who knew him best would agree: these were the marks of a brilliant
mind within a very warm and lovable human being.
<signed>
Larry R. Faulkner, President
The University of Texas at Austin
<signed>
Sue Alexander Greninger, Secretary
The General Faculty
This memorial resolution was prepared by a special committee
consisting of Professors Sanjay Banerjee (chair), Earl Swartzlander,
and David Beer.
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