Bernard Marshall Gordon
Encyclopedia
- For similarly named people, see Bernard Gordon (disambiguation)
Bernard Marshall Gordon (born in 1927), American inventor and philanthropist, is generally called "Bernie" rather than "Mr. Gordon" by associates and subordinates. Born not long before the stock market crash of 1929 to an ordinary working family in Springfield, Massachusetts, Bernie worked part-time in a radio shop to help support the family.
Later he headed an electronics empire built by himself and hand-picked associates and was known as "the father of high-speed solid-state analog-to-digital conversion." His name is on over 200 patents, many of which are shared with associates at Analogic Inc., the main company founded by Bernie. It is safe to say that he typifies and values what some have called the yankee spirit of innovation. At Analogic he surrounded himself with inventors, specifically rewarding creativity more than any other trait. Regarding his innovativeness, he said:
- "I enjoy what I do."
Still later in life, Bernie gave all his company shares to the Bernard M. Gordon Charitable Remainder UniTrust, which sells the shares and gives away the money. When it runs dry it will have dispersed about 300 million, mainly to institutions. Concerning this action, Bernie said:
- "I established the trust because as I got old, I wanted to live long enough to see some of this money given away to good causes."
Personal background
Bernie was born Bernard Marshall Gordon. The Gordons were a Jewish family. Bernie's father gave sermons in churches, schools and synagogues. He always encouraged his son to get A's in school. Bernie was a Boy ScoutBoy Scout
A Scout is a boy or a girl, usually 11 to 18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split this age group into a junior and a senior section...
, an Eagle Scout
Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)
Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America . A Scout who attains this rank is called an Eagle Scout or Eagle. Since its introduction in 1911, the Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than 2 million young men...
and has received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award
Distinguished Eagle Scout Award
The Distinguished Eagle Scout Award is a distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America . It is awarded to an Eagle Scout for distinguished service in his profession and to his community for a period of at least 25 years after attaining the level of Eagle Scout...
.
Early in life Bernie learned two principles that were invaluable to him in building a subsequent career. First is that inventiveness is an interesting, useful and profitable trait. At age 13 he invented and sold a pull-cord device to drop lime into the outhouses that then abounded in rural Massachusetts. The second principle is the necessity for self-defense. Diminutive and Jewish, he was beaten so often on the way home from school that he took up boxing and acquired some skill from the teaching of his uncle, Chick Rosnick, an army physical education instructor.
Bernie attended Springfield
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
Technical High School rather than a classical high school; however, of his sojourn there Bernie said:
- "It was not a classical high school, it was a technical high school attended by kids who might want to be carpenters or plumbers. Yet I would make this comment: I was better educated in high school in 1943 than most college graduates are today. I could read and write and quote Shakespeare, I had classes in philosophyPhilosophyPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, logicLogicIn philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
and psychologyPsychologyPsychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, and I was taking apart airplanes and automobiles. This education was a very important influence on how I think about the teaching of engineering."
In this way Bernie was imbued with the pragmatist spirit
Pragmatism
Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition centered on the linking of practice and theory. It describes a process where theory is extracted from practice, and applied back to practice to form what is called intelligent practice...
. Comparisons to Edison, Bell
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone....
and Rickover
Hyman G. Rickover
Hyman George Rickover was a four-star admiral of the United States Navy who directed the original development of naval nuclear propulsion and controlled its operations for three decades as director of Naval Reactors...
are not inapropos.
Bernie did extremely well in high school. He studied English literature and French as well as calculus
Calculus
Calculus is a branch of mathematics focused on limits, functions, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series. This subject constitutes a major part of modern mathematics education. It has two major branches, differential calculus and integral calculus, which are related by the fundamental theorem...
, physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
and electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
. He also competed on the track and wrestling teams, and was class co-president with the son of Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
, Paul Robeson II, who had been sent to Springfield to be educated, as there was only one black family in Enfield
Enfield, Connecticut
Enfield is a town located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 45,212 at the 2000 census. It sits on the border with Longmeadow, Massachusetts and East Longmeadow, Massachusetts to the north, Somers to the east, East Windsor and Ellington to the south, and the...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, where his mother then resided. Bernie graduated from high school at 16.
The successful and well-motivated young man immediately applied to MIT for admission. He was turned down on a snap judgment:
- "The professor who interviewed me asked what I did after school. I told him I made outhouses and fixed radios. He actually told me: 'I don't think you're the type we want at MIT.' "
Bernie looked around for other programs and soon found one to his liking.
Military service
The program found by the 17-year old Bernie in 1944 amounted to a free year of college and a commission in the United States NavyUnited States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. Started only a few years previously it was officially termed the V-12 Navy College Training Program
V-12 Navy College Training Program
The V-12 Navy College Training Program was designed to supplement the force of commissioned officers in the United States Navy during World War II...
. Bernie entered the navy under this program at 17, along with a good many other future notables in American government and society, as a Seaman Apprentice
Seaman Apprentice
ConstructionmanvariationFiremanvariationAirmanvariationSeamaninsigniaSeaman apprentice is the second lowest enlisted rank in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard, just above seaman recruit and below seaman; this rank was formerly known as seaman second class.The actual title for an E-2 in the U.S....
, the lowest rank in the navy, but also one that was being used for a training rate.
The program gave Bernie his first year in college, which he took first at MIT, then at Tufts, bunking in on the third floor of West Hall, four to a room. The boys wore uniform on campus. Bernie's room was near the fire escape, where he watched the other boys sneaking out for dates. This was an era of wistfulness for the young man, who later described himself as "pure" at that time. He did not escape down the fire escape, but remained hard at work, a habit he retained all his life.
He was subsequently commissioned and remained an officer in the Ready Reserve for 15 years.
Education
Bernie had very clear ideas on what he wanted to do. His radio hobby and part-time work had interested him in electronics. He applied for entry into MIT in electrical engineering again under the GI Bill and this time was accepted.Bernie already had a year of college in the navy. He completed work for the BS degree in 1948 and still had some time left on his GI Bill, so he went on for the MS, which he had earned by 1949. That degree and an honorable service record made him at age 22 one of the more desirable candidates for an engineering position. He had no trouble getting a job. His major concern was getting the right one.
Employee
Bernie's first job after college was with PhilcoPhilco
Philco, the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company , was a pioneer in early battery, radio, and television production as well as former employer of Philo Farnsworth, inventor of cathode ray tube television...
Corporation. He was there for a year, a long time in the fast-paced world of growing electronics innovation that followed the war. His career there was interrupted by a personal call from the young Presper Eckert, 28 at the time, who had heard about him from an MIT professor and wanted to interview him.
As a result, Bernie went to work at the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation
Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation
The Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation was founded by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, and was incorporated on December 22, 1947. After building the ENIAC at the University of Pennsylvania, Eckert and Mauchly formed EMCC to build new computer designs for commercial and military applications...
in an old building in Philadelphia. He had joined a group of young and irreverent engineers who were building the first commercial digital computer. At that time the digital computer was a new idea coming out of war-time military intelligence efforts. The first one had been devised to compute artillery firing tables, but was completed too late (1946) to impact the course of the war. Now Bernie found that he was to work on the development of UNIVAC
UNIVAC
UNIVAC is the name of a business unit and division of the Remington Rand company formed by the 1950 purchase of the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, founded four years earlier by ENIAC inventors J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, and the associated line of computers which continues to this day...
, the world's first commercial digital computer. His co-workers were all in their 20's; however, the same might be said of many other entrepreneurs and project enthusiasts in the just-foming field of computers.
At this time, Bernie got his first indoctrination in entrpreneurial management from the receiving end. He said:
- "The chief engineer was Jim Weiner who had come down from RaytheonRaytheonRaytheon Company is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007...
. Jim ruled over us like a master sergeantMaster SergeantA master sergeant is the military rank for a senior non-commissioned officer in some armed forces.-Israel Defense Forces:Rav samal rishoninsignia IDF...
and engendered in us reactionary passions . . . but he made us do our jobs."
Weiner in turn mirrored Eckert, of whom Bernie said:
- "If in my later years I have myself developed a reputation for being a tough engineering task master, I am pleased to say — and I hope that he will be pleased by my saying it — that Eckert was responsible."
Eckert set Bernie to designing standard flip flops, standard gates
Logic gate
A logic gate is an idealized or physical device implementing a Boolean function, that is, it performs a logical operation on one or more logic inputs and produces a single logic output. Depending on the context, the term may refer to an ideal logic gate, one that has for instance zero rise time and...
, and other electronics for the computer. Bernie later said:
- "He had allowed only a few working days to do this. I didn't know I couldn't do it, so I set out to do it."
Having done it, Bernie went on to design the crystal transducer system for the acoustic memories and then all of the memory system. Eckert and Weiner were tough masters. Bernie retained his delight at once seeing them make a worse mistake than any the engineers were punished for making:
- "Jim Weiner established the rule that whenever anybody made a mistake such as putting a screw driver or a scope probe in the wrong place and blew up a diodeDiodeIn electronics, a diode is a type of two-terminal electronic component with a nonlinear current–voltage characteristic. A semiconductor diode, the most common type today, is a crystalline piece of semiconductor material connected to two electrical terminals...
, he would have to buy a Coca-Cola for all the employees of the company, approximately 30. However, one day Jim Weiner himself put his screw driver into the wrong place and blew up all 18,000 diodes! It made us all feel much better."
Bernie later had high praise for Eckert's methods and adopted them as a philosophy:
- "He felt, I believe, that any engineer worth his salt should be able to design anything at any time, either electrical or mechanical. If he didn't know how to do it, then it was his responsibility to go out and learn how to do it."
Though highly influential on Bernie, the tutelage of Eckert was chronologically brief. After Sperry Rand Corporation bought Eckert-Mauchly, and the methods of large corporations began to replace those of Eckert, Bernie resigned and went to work for Laboratory for Electronics, a firm in the Boston area that was formed by individuals from the wartime Radiation Laboratory
Radiation Laboratory
The Radiation Laboratory, commonly called the Rad Lab, was located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts and functioned from October 1940 until December 31, 1945...
at MIT. There, he helped develop a Doppler navigating radar
Doppler radar
A Doppler radar is a specialized radar that makes use of the Doppler effect to produce velocity data about objects at a distance. It does this by beaming a microwave signal towards a desired target and listening for its reflection, then analyzing how the frequency of the returned signal has been...
. It was the last work he would do as someone else's employee.
In the course of his radar investigations, Bernie met An Wang
An Wang
Dr. An Wang was a Chinese American computer engineer and inventor, and co-founder of computer company Wang Laboratories.-Early life and career:...
, another young innovator, who had just started Wang Laboratories
Wang Laboratories
Wang Laboratories was a computer company founded in 1951 by Dr. An Wang and Dr. G. Y. Chu. The company was successively headquartered in Cambridge , Tewksbury , and finally in Lowell, Massachusetts . At its peak in the 1980s, Wang Laboratories had annual revenues of $3 billion and employed over...
, Inc. Bernie and An built and patented a sequenced number generator, the forerunner of all electronic dot matrix displays. It was used in the navigational computer on which Bernie was then working.
Marriage and family
First married while still a teenager, after a period of years it became clear to both Bernie and his first spouse that it was not working out.Later, at approximately age 32, he married Sophia, a former citizen of Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. After having survived World War II there, she emigrated to the United States, joining the large population of Greek-speakers here. In addition to being supportive of her husband's innovative mission, Sophia has had a mission of her own to keep him healthy. A dancer, nutritionist and fitness savant in her own right, she makes sure that he eats right and gets his exercise. He still rides the bicycle.
In keeping with her own positive philosophy, Sophia has been a partner in Bernie's philanthropy. Some of the projects they support are named after her, such as the Sophia Gordon Center of the Arts at Salem State College The pair are always seen together in their now busy social life.
Entrepreneur
In 1953, five years after graduation from MIT, Bernie Gordon had already worked for or with some of the leading innovators of the computer industry. Now his work with computers led him into the concept of multi-processing and the connecting of computers with analog signals. As computers were now all digitalDigital
A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
, an analog-to-digital
Analog-to-digital converter
An analog-to-digital converter is a device that converts a continuous quantity to a discrete time digital representation. An ADC may also provide an isolated measurement...
signal transducer
Transducer
A transducer is a device that converts one type of energy to another. Energy types include electrical, mechanical, electromagnetic , chemical, acoustic or thermal energy. While the term transducer commonly implies the use of a sensor/detector, any device which converts energy can be considered a...
was required.
Bernie went into business with Joe Davis, founding EPSCO, Inc., which had one product line, the DATRAC,
- "the first known shift programmed successive approximation A/D converterAnalog-to-digital converterAn analog-to-digital converter is a device that converts a continuous quantity to a discrete time digital representation. An ADC may also provide an isolated measurement...
." The company eventually grew to employ some 3,000 people.
The converter was solid work, for which Bernie became known as "the father of high-speed analog-to-digital conversion."
In 1964, he founded Gordon Engineering, where he invented the first solid-state X-ray generator. In 1969 Gordon Engineering became Analogic Corporation, which specialized in analog-to-digital conversion applications. Computers had gone on to digital transmission, but in many circumstances, such as measurement of a natural variable (temperature, voltage, weight, etc.), the input signal is analog and must be converted to digital before it can be manipulated by digital computers.
Analogic's business therefore became the design and manufacture of increasingly complex measurement and detection devices, especially in the fields of medical and industrial imaging, and measurement systems. Any application that computerizes a natural variable used for detection, whether visual, x-ray, sound, temperature, or some other, is a potential market for Analogic products.
At Analogic, Bernie served in the following positions:
- Chairman of the Board of Directors from 1969 to 2004
- President from 1980 to 1995 and from 2001 to 2003
- Executive Chairman from 2002 to 2004
- Chief Executive Officer from 1973 to 2000 and from 2002 to 2003.
These positions do not tell the real story. Bernie always took a personal hand in hiring, evaluating, training, and mentoring engineers. He was the project leader for many projects. His management style was the informal family-type of management practiced by Eckert, in which distinctions of status were not made, and every engineer spoke freely.
Bernie left Analogic to pursue his interests in the field of medical instrumentation, co-founding NeuroLogica Corporation of Danvers, Massachusetts
Danvers, Massachusetts
Danvers is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on the Danvers River near the northeastern coast of Massachusetts, Danvers is most widely known for its association with the 1692 Salem witch trials, and for its famous asylum, the Danvers State Hospital.-17th century:The land...
, in February 2004, and serving as Chairman of the Board. Its first project was a portable imaging system, for neurological scanning applications, which would assist stroke and trauma victims.
Entrepreneurial consultant
- Tufts University — Bernie had a long-standing attachment to Tufts UniversityTufts UniversityTufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
, where he had studied under the Navy's V-12 program as a teenager. In 1992 the Tufts University School of EngineeringTufts University School of EngineeringThe School of Engineering is one of the eight schools and colleges that comprise Tufts University . The school offers undergraduate and professional degrees in several fields of engineering and computer science...
absorbed the Gordon Institute, which then became the Tufts Gordon Institute, offering education in engineering management. This success brought him into focus at Tufts as a potential leader, and in 1996 he was elected to the Tufts Board of Trustees. Currently he serves on the Committee for University Advancement, the Audit Committee, and the Board of Overseers for the Tufts University School of Engineering.
- Lahey Clinic — Chairman of the Board of Directors
- Analogic — After the recession that began in the year 2000, Analogic weathered the storm well for most of it. Toward the end, however, the medical division began to take large losses. Bernie no longer owns Analogic, but he was willing to come to the rescue of the company he had founded if he could. On November 8, 2006, the Board reappointed him Executive Chairman on an interim basis. Reducing expenses were his first concern, followed by a search for a new principal executive officer. James Green was selected to be President and Chief Executive Officer of Analogic Corporation in May 2007.
Patents
No article can capture the inventiveness of an inventive man, which Bernie has been, since the days when he devised the cord-pulled lime-dropping device. Later in life he invented and received patents for the high-speed analog-to-digital converterAnalog-to-digital converter
An analog-to-digital converter is a device that converts a continuous quantity to a discrete time digital representation. An ADC may also provide an isolated measurement...
, the instant imaging computer-aided tomography
Tomography
Tomography refers to imaging by sections or sectioning, through the use of any kind of penetrating wave. A device used in tomography is called a tomograph, while the image produced is a tomogram. The method is used in radiology, archaeology, biology, geophysics, oceanography, materials science,...
scanner, Digital Doppler radar
Doppler radar
A Doppler radar is a specialized radar that makes use of the Doppler effect to produce velocity data about objects at a distance. It does this by beaming a microwave signal towards a desired target and listening for its reflection, then analyzing how the frequency of the returned signal has been...
, the fetal monitor, and an advanced bomb-detection device. Company rules allowed Gordon to attach his name to anything, regardless of whether had anything to do with it. A partial list of "his" patents follows:
- Data acquisition system using delta-sigma analog-to-digital signal converters
- Computed tomography scanning apparatus and method using adaptive reconstruction window
- Data acquisition system using delta-sigma analog-to-digital signal converters
- CT scanner comprising a spatially encoded detector array arrangement and method
- Digital filmless X-ray projection imaging system and method
- X-ray tomography apparatus
- Computed tomography scanner with reduced power x-ray source
- Self calibrating ring suppression filter for use in computed tomography systems
- Quadrature transverse CT detection system
- Method of and apparatus for power management and distribution in a medical imaging system
- Multiple angle pre-screening tomographic systems and methods
- X-ray tomography system for and method of improving the quality of a scanned image
- Ring suppression filter for use in computed tomography systems
- Dual energy power supply
- Apparatus for transferring data to and from a moving device
- Apparatus for and method of measuring geometric, positional and kinematic parameters of a rotating device having a plurality of interval markers
- X-ray tomography apparatus
- X-ray tomography apparatus with lateral movement compensation
- X-ray tomography apparatus
- Oscilloscope memory control
- Modular computing oscilloscope with high speed signal memory
- Tomography data acquisition system with variable sampling rate and/or conversion resolution of detector output signals
- Adaptive digitizer circuit for information processing system
- Continuous wave fan beam tomography system having a best-estimating filter
- Logarithmic analog-to-digital converter
- Low noise differential amplifier
- Logarithmic analog-to-digital converter
- Tomography signal processing system
- Motion detection circuit for electronic weighing system
- Temperature compensation technique
Academic contributions
Bernie has always brought an analytical approach to the topic of engineers and engineering in general. Recently he said:- "I've been outspoken about improving our competitive engineering capability, the ability to turn out a project on time, meeting specifications. How could it be that the Romans built aqueductAqueductAn aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....
s 2,000 years ago that are still standing today, while the ceiling on the Big DigBig DigThe Central Artery/Tunnel Project , known unofficially as the Big Dig and as the Big Dug since completion, was a megaproject in Boston that rerouted the Central Artery , the chief highway through the heart of the city, into a 3.5-mile tunnel...
tunnel came down in two years?"
Bernie's view is that a large part of the problem of obtaining good engineering is firstly the education of the engineers, and secondly the management of engineering projects. He has therefore committed some of his resources to the following programs to address the problem.
Bernard Marshall Gordon professorship
Bernie endowed the Bernard Marshall Gordon Professorship of Engineering Innovation and Practice at MIT. It rewards and encourages engineering education for innovation and innovative management. (See under External links below).Gordon Institute
Bernie founded the Gordon Institute in 1984 in WakefieldWakefield, Massachusetts
-History:-Geography:The diagram above shows what is to the east, west, north, south, and other directions of the center of Wakefield. Towns with population above 25,000 are in bold italics.-Demographics:-Notable residents:...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, to teach engineering leadership. He wanted to impart Eckert's and his own methods and style of management, which he believed would bring about the economic success of engineering projects. By that time Bernie's main enterprise, Gordon Engineering/Analogic had survived twenty years in the very competitive electronics business.
By 1992 he had decided the Institute would reach more people as part of a university. He had Tufts in mind, and they were delighted to find such an educational asset already in place. With Bernie willing to underwrite the expense, they acquired Gordon Institute and made it part of their regular program. It was moved from Wakefield to Medford in 1994. At Tufts, one can now study for a Master of Science
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
in Engineering Management
Engineering management
Engineering Management or Management Engineering is a specialized form of management and engineering that is concerned with the application of engineering principles to business practice...
at the Gordon Institute in a one- or two-year program.
The Institute has trained or strengthened the skills of managers at a number of large corporations, such as GE
Gê
Gê are the people who spoke Ge languages of the northern South American Caribbean coast and Brazil. In Brazil the Gê were found in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Piaui, Mato Grosso, Goias, Tocantins, Maranhão, and as far south as Paraguay....
, Compaq
Compaq
Compaq Computer Corporation is a personal computer company founded in 1982. Once the largest supplier of personal computing systems in the world, Compaq existed as an independent corporation until 2002, when it was acquired for US$25 billion by Hewlett-Packard....
, Toshiba
Toshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
and others. It emphasizes breaking out of specialties to see the big picture.
Bernard M. Gordon - MIT Engineering Leadership Program
Launched in 2008 through a $20 million gift by the Gordon Foundation — the largest gift made to MIT's School of Engineering for curriculum development — the Program aims to create new approaches to prepare students for engineering leadership, and to ensure that MIT continues to lead the nation in developing effective engineering leaders.Through project-based learning, extensive interaction with industry leaders (including the Program's unique InternshipPlus opportunities), hands-on product development, engineering leadership labs, and authentic leadership challenges and exercises, the program transforms a highly motivated group of undergraduate students into engineering leaders who will fuel America's technology engine.
The program offers MIT undergraduates a one-year program for seniors, or a two-year program for juniors. The two-year students guide the larger group, as a group of approximately 20–30 seniors. This is a new change in the program, to make leadership education available to the wider MIT community. Previously, there was only a two-year program offered.
Gordon foundation
In 2003, Bernie had his lawyer, Julian SoshnickJulian Soshnick
Julian Soshnick was born on August 17, 1932 in Brooklyn, NY. Born and raised there, Soshnick graduated from high school in Manhattan at age 16. He then attended and graduated Brandeis University and the Boston University School of Law. Drafted in 1957 and shipped out to Germany, he served four...
, set up the Bernard M. Gordon Charitable Remainder UniTrust, which sells Analogic shares and gives away the money. Bernie donated all his shares to it. Julian also had taken an intense interest in the charity and was a contributor himself. To date, the recipients of monetary gifts include:
- Brigham and Women's HospitalBrigham and Women's HospitalBrigham and Women's Hospital is the largest hospital of the Longwood Medical and Academic Area in Boston, Massachusetts. It is directly adjacent to Harvard Medical School of which it is the second largest teaching affiliate with 793 beds...
in Boston, Massachusetts - Lahey ClinicLahey ClinicThe Lahey Clinic is a physician-led nonprofit teaching hospital of Tufts University School of Medicine based in Burlington, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1923 by surgeon Frank H...
in Burlington, MassachusettsBurlington, MassachusettsBurlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,498 at the 2010 census.- History :It is believed that Burlington takes its name from the English town of Bridlington, however this has never been confirmed.... - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
in Cambridge, MassachusettsCambridge, MassachusettsCambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent... - Tufts UniversityTufts UniversityTufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
in Medford, MassachusettsMedford, MassachusettsMedford is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States, on the Mystic River, five miles northwest of downtown Boston. In the 2010 U.S. Census, Medford's population was 56,173... - National Academy of EngineeringNational Academy of EngineeringThe National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...
- Technion in IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. - Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts
- Salem State CollegeSalem State CollegeSalem State University is a four-year public institution of higher learning located in Salem, Massachusetts. Salem State University, established in 1854 as Salem Normal School, is located approximately fifteen miles north of Boston, Massachusetts. Salem State enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and...
in Salem, MassachusettsSalem, MassachusettsSalem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County... - Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts
- The Citadel Military College in Charleston, South CarolinaCharleston, South CarolinaCharleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
About his altruism, Bernie said::"My primary motivation, even from the beginning, was never self-serving. I derive satisfaction from doing something that is useful for other people. I was brought up that way, and I was trained that way."
Awards
- 1971 Received the Outstanding Living Engineer Award from the Engineering Societies of New England.
- 1972 Elected an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Fellow.
- 1986 Received the National Medal of TechnologyNational Medal of TechnologyThe National Medal of Technology and Innovation is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development of new and important technology...
from President ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, the second ever awarded. - 1991 Elected a member of the National Academy of EngineeringNational Academy of EngineeringThe National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...
. - 1992 Received a Benjamin Franklin Award for Innovation in Engineering and Technology from the Franklin InstituteFranklin InstituteThe Franklin Institute is a museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the oldest centers of science education and development in the United States, dating to 1824. The Institute also houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial.-History:On February 5, 1824, Samuel Vaughn Merrick and...
. - 1992 Received the IEEE Engineering Leadership Recognition Award
- 1992 Honorary degree from Tufts.
- 1999 Tufts Presidential Medal, the third ever awarded.
- 1999 Distinguished Community Leadership award from the American Jewish CongressAmerican Jewish CongressThe American Jewish Congress describes itself as an association of Jewish Americans organized to defend Jewish interests at home and abroad through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, legislation, and the courts....
- 2002 Inducted into Electronic Design Magazine's Hall of Fame at its opening.
- 2004 Museum of Science Walker Prize.
- 2005 Recognition as an Eminent Member by Eta Kappa NuEta Kappa NuEta Kappa Nu is the electrical and computer engineering honor society of the IEEE, founded in October 1904 by Maurice L. Carr at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The organization currently has around 200 student chapters and about 3,000,000 members and is headquartered in Chicago,...
(HKN). - 2006 Distinguished Eagle Scout AwardDistinguished Eagle Scout AwardThe Distinguished Eagle Scout Award is a distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America . It is awarded to an Eagle Scout for distinguished service in his profession and to his community for a period of at least 25 years after attaining the level of Eagle Scout...
. - 2007 Inducted into the 227th class of fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Publications
- Education for electronics leadership, EDN, 10/14/1981
- Gordon, Bernard M. What Is an Engineer? Invited keynote presentation. European Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference, University of Erlangen-Nurnberg, 1984.
General Background
- The Computer Museum Report
- Bernard Gordon, MIT site
- Bernard Gordon, Tufts site
- Bernard M. Gordon, forbes.com site
- The Inventive Engineer
- At the top of his field
- http://www.analogic.com
- http://www.neurologica.com