TERMAN, FREDERICK EMMONS

born June 7, 1900, English, Ind., U.S. died Dec. 19, 1982, Palo Alto, Calif. American electrical engineer known for his contributions to electronics research and antiradar technology. Terman, the son of the noted psychologist Lewis Madison Terman, earned his undergraduate degrees from Stanford University, Stanford, Calif., and a doctorate in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge (1924). From 1925 to 1941 he designed a course of study and research in electronics at Stanford that focussed on work with vacuum tubes, circuits, and instrumentation. During World War II Terman directed a staff of more than 850 persons at the Radio Research Laboratory at Harvard University; this organization was the source of Allied jammers to block enemy radar, tunable receivers to detect radar signals, and aluminum strips (chaff ) that produced spurious reflections on enemy radar receivers. These devices cut by 75 percent the effectiveness of radar-directed anti-aircraft fire. After the war Terman was appointed dean of engineering at Stanford and from 1955 to 1965 served as provost of the university. His other scientific contributions include work on long-distance electrical transmission and resonant transmission lines. His publications include Radio Engineers' Handbook (1943) and Electronic and Radio Engineering (4th ed., 1955).