Glen P. Robinson
Encyclopedia
Glen Parmelee Robinson Jr. (born September 10, 1923), called the "father of high-tech industry in Georgia", is a founder of Scientific Atlanta, now a subsidiary of Cisco Systems
. Robinson was CEO of the company for 20 years, and chairman of the board for an additional eight years, until he retired from Scientific Atlanta in 1979.
Initially a ham radio enthusiast and subsequently a physics graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology
(Georgia Tech) with both Bachelor's and Master's degrees, Robinson worked at the Georgia Tech Research Institute
and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory
before founding Scientific Atlanta. Later in life, he founded and invested in numerous Atlanta-area science-based companies. Robinson is an IEEE Fellow
and holds at least 39 patents in fields including solar energy devices and antenna systems.
For his contributions, he was named Georgia's Small Businessman of the Year in 1965, the Georgia Business and Industry Association's Entrepreneur of the Year in 1981, and was elected to the Georgia Technology Hall of Fame in 1993. In 2003, Georgia Tech awarded him an honorary Ph.D. in Physics, and in 2007, half of Georgia Tech's Molecular Science and Engineering Building was named the Glen P. Robinson, Jr. Tower in his honor.
, an outskirt of Jacksonville, Florida
, to Glen Parmelee and Maura Mae (Lewis) Robinson. Some time after his family moved to Valdosta, Georgia
in 1937, Robinson opened a small machine shop. He sold industrial products and metal tools to local industry. In 1942, with the encouragement of his father, Robinson enrolled as a student at the Georgia Institute of Technology
to study chemical engineering
. However, his education was interrupted by his enlistment into the Naval Signal Corps and service in the Pacific Theatre of WWII
where he installed telephones on recaptured American possessions during World War II
.
Robinson returned from the conflict as a junior and decided to change his major to physics, as the School of Physics
started its degree program that year. He received a Bachelor of Science in Physics in 1948, and a Master of Science in Physics (also from Georgia Tech) in 1950. Robinson was also a member of Georgia Tech's prestigious secret society
, the ANAK Society
. Robinson had been a ham radio
operator enthusiast since the age of 14, and started a radio repair service to provide additional income while he was a student at Georgia Tech.
One of Robinson's professors, James E. Boyd
, convinced him to give up the radio repair business and work as a research assistant at the Georgia Tech Research Institute
(then known as the Engineering Experiment Station, or EES). One of his ham radio friends was actually his boss's boss and EES director, Gerald Rosselot
. Working after hours at EES, Robinson built a television set in the lab, which he and others claim was the first to be built in the state of Georgia. In 1950, Robinson went to Tennessee to work in nuclear engineering
for Oak Ridge National Laboratory
, servicing radiology equipment at local hospitals.
that coincided with Scientific Atlanta's foundation. Specifically, Emerson believed that surplus funds realized through research contracts should be returned to Georgia Tech, while the Georgia Tech Research Corporation
and Rosselot felt they should be retained to foster additional research.
A strict conflict of interest
policy was enacted, and researchers were forced to choose between the two entities; the initial investors had all kept their faculty jobs, and most returned to them. After the fledgling company's first contract resulted in a $4,000 loss ($ today), Robinson bought all but one of the original investors and paid them each back their original $100. Consequently, Robinson left EES and became president and CEO of the new company, which would eventually be renamed to Scientific Atlanta. Boyd stayed on as a member of the board of directors
; Robinson's friend Larry Clayton, previously involved in Robinson's radio business and now having graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in physics, became the head of the new company's research and development. Years later, the school would promote Scientific Atlanta's origins at Georgia Tech, and Scientific Atlanta has been a longtime financial contributor to Georgia Tech.
Scientific Atlanta helped NASA establish ground stations for communications with astronauts during the Mercury
, Gemini
and Apollo
projects. When John Glenn
became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962 on Mercury-Atlas 6
, his voice was transmitted and received by radio antennas designed with equipment built by Scientific Atlanta. In the 1970s, Robinson recognized the potential combination of communications satellite
s and cable television
. Ted Turner
purchased one of Scientific Atlanta's first satellite systems, which formed the basis of Turner's "Super Station
" that was broadcast around the country to other cable providers. In 1975, HBO and TelePrompTer
used Scientific Atlanta equipment to transmit the first live satellite-delivered cable event, the "Thrilla in Manila
" heavyweight boxing championship bout between Muhammad Ali
and Joe Frazier
.
Robinson remained CEO of Scientific Atlanta for 20 years, and chairman of the board for an additional eight years, until he retired from the company in 1979. Scientific Atlanta grew dramatically; it had $3.1 million revenue in 1962 ($ million today), approximately $200 million when Robinson left in 1979 ($ million today), and $1.9 billion in revenue in 2005. Scientific Atlanta also served as a regional business incubator
, with hundreds of companies tracing their roots back to it.
technology. Eight years later, in 1986, E-Tech merged with the Marvair Company to become Crispaire, which specialized in cooling equipment for telecommunications systems. Crispaire would later merge with other companies, and is now known as AirExcel. Robinson retired from Crispaire in 1997.
In 1994, Robinson helped start LaserCraft, which focused on applications of lidar
such as radar gun
s and traffic enforcement cameras, and in 2007 was the world's largest manufacturer of laser products for law enforcement. LaserCraft was acquired by Public Safety Equipment in June 2006, which was in turn acquired by Stirling Square Capital Partners and Diamond Castle Holdings
in February 2007.
Robinson has been an angel investor
, particularly in the fields of digital communications and biotechnology
. In 1999, He funded OmniMetrix and Mission Communications, two companies focused on AMPS cellular digital control channel and Internet communications. In 2000, he invested $1.5 million ($ million today) in Genomic Solutions Inc. Most recently, Robinson is an investor in and co-founder of the 2007 VentureLab
startup, C2 Biofuels, which aims to build several $100 million cellulosic ethanol
plants throughout the US.
; Trustee of The Georgia Tech Foundation
and Member of the Board of Visitors of Emory University; the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce
; and the Georgia Business and Industry Association.
Robinson was selected as Georgia's Small Businessman of the Year in 1965, the Georgia Business and Industry Association's (now the Georgia Chamber of Commerce
) Entrepreneur of the Year in 1981, and was elected to the Georgia Technology Hall of Fame in 1993. Since 1995, Scientific Atlanta has sponsored scholarships in Robinson's name for children of Scientific Atlanta employees. In March 1998, Robinson donated to create two endowed chairs: the Glen P. Robinson Chair in Non-Linear Science (in the School of Physics) and the $1.5 million Glen P. Robinson Chair in Electro-Optics (in GTRI).
In 2003, Georgia Tech awarded him an honorary Ph.D. in physics, and in 2006 he was awarded with the Joseph Mayo Pettit Alumni Distinguished Service Award. In 2007, half of Georgia Tech's Molecular Science and Engineering Building was named the Glen P. Robinson, Jr. Tower in his honor, due in part to his $5 million donation towards its construction. As of 2006, he and his wife, Jan, have five children and 12 grandchildren and live in Atlanta.
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
. Robinson was CEO of the company for 20 years, and chairman of the board for an additional eight years, until he retired from Scientific Atlanta in 1979.
Initially a ham radio enthusiast and subsequently a physics graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
(Georgia Tech) with both Bachelor's and Master's degrees, Robinson worked at the Georgia Tech Research Institute
Georgia Tech Research Institute
The Georgia Tech Research Institute is the nonprofit applied research arm of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States...
and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy by UT-Battelle. ORNL is the DOE's largest science and energy laboratory. ORNL is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near Knoxville...
before founding Scientific Atlanta. Later in life, he founded and invested in numerous Atlanta-area science-based companies. Robinson is an IEEE Fellow
IEEE Fellow
An IEEE member is elevated to the grade of IEEE Fellow for "unusual distinction in the profession and shall be conferred by the Board of Directors upon a person with an extraordinary record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest"...
and holds at least 39 patents in fields including solar energy devices and antenna systems.
For his contributions, he was named Georgia's Small Businessman of the Year in 1965, the Georgia Business and Industry Association's Entrepreneur of the Year in 1981, and was elected to the Georgia Technology Hall of Fame in 1993. In 2003, Georgia Tech awarded him an honorary Ph.D. in Physics, and in 2007, half of Georgia Tech's Molecular Science and Engineering Building was named the Glen P. Robinson, Jr. Tower in his honor.
Early life and education
Robinson was born in 1923 in Crescent City, FloridaCrescent City, Florida
Crescent City is a city in Putnam County, Florida, United States. The city is located on two lakes and is part of the Palatka Micropolitan Statistical Area. Crescent Lake lies to the east of town and Lake Stella is located to the west.-Geography:...
, an outskirt of Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, to Glen Parmelee and Maura Mae (Lewis) Robinson. Some time after his family moved to Valdosta, Georgia
Valdosta, Georgia
Valdosta is the county seat of Lowndes County, Georgia, United States. It is the principal city of the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total population of 54,518. The Valdosta metropolitan area, according to the 2010 estimate, has a population of 139,588...
in 1937, Robinson opened a small machine shop. He sold industrial products and metal tools to local industry. In 1942, with the encouragement of his father, Robinson enrolled as a student at the Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
to study chemical engineering
Chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with physical science , and life sciences with mathematics and economics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms...
. However, his education was interrupted by his enlistment into the Naval Signal Corps and service in the Pacific Theatre of WWII
Pacific War
The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...
where he installed telephones on recaptured American possessions during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Robinson returned from the conflict as a junior and decided to change his major to physics, as the School of Physics
Georgia Institute of Technology School of Physics
The School of Physics is an academic unit located within the College of Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology . It conducts both research and teaching activities related to physics at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The School of Physics offers Bachelors degrees in Physics or...
started its degree program that year. He received a Bachelor of Science in Physics in 1948, and a Master of Science in Physics (also from Georgia Tech) in 1950. Robinson was also a member of Georgia Tech's prestigious secret society
Secret society
A secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...
, the ANAK Society
ANAK Society
The ANAK Society is the oldest known secret society and honor society at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Founded in 1908, ANAK's purpose is "to honor outstanding juniors and seniors who have shown both exemplary leadership and a true love for Georgia Tech"...
. Robinson had been a ham radio
Amateur radio
Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...
operator enthusiast since the age of 14, and started a radio repair service to provide additional income while he was a student at Georgia Tech.
One of Robinson's professors, James E. Boyd
James E. Boyd (scientist)
James Emory "Jim" Boyd was an American physicist, mathematician, and academic administrator. He was director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute from 1957 to 1961, president of West Georgia College from 1961 to 1971, and acting president of the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1971 to...
, convinced him to give up the radio repair business and work as a research assistant at the Georgia Tech Research Institute
Georgia Tech Research Institute
The Georgia Tech Research Institute is the nonprofit applied research arm of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States...
(then known as the Engineering Experiment Station, or EES). One of his ham radio friends was actually his boss's boss and EES director, Gerald Rosselot
Gerald Rosselot
Gerald A. Rosselot was a physicist and engineering executive at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the Georgia Tech Research Institute and Bendix Corporation . He was an IEEE Fellow.-Early life:As a child, Rosselot traveled to France and England and was somewhat proficient in French...
. Working after hours at EES, Robinson built a television set in the lab, which he and others claim was the first to be built in the state of Georgia. In 1950, Robinson went to Tennessee to work in nuclear engineering
Nuclear engineering
Nuclear engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the application of the breakdown as well as the fusion of atomic nuclei and/or the application of other sub-atomic physics, based on the principles of nuclear physics...
for Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy by UT-Battelle. ORNL is the DOE's largest science and energy laboratory. ORNL is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near Knoxville...
, servicing radiology equipment at local hospitals.
Scientific Atlanta
Robinson and six other Georgia Tech researchers (including Robinson's former professor James E. Boyd and EES director Gerald Rosselot) each contributed $100 (for a total of $700, worth $ today) and founded Scientific Associates on October 31, 1951, with the initial goal of marketing antenna structures being developed by the radar branch of the EES. Robinson worked as the general manager without pay for the first year. The relations between Scientific Atlanta and the EES were initially strained due to an unrelated dispute over station finances between EES director Gerald Rosselot and Georgia Tech vice president Cherry EmersonCherry Logan Emerson (engineer)
Cherry Logan Emerson, Sr. was an American engineer and academic administrator.-Education:Emerson graduated from Georgia Tech with two bachelor's degrees: one in mechanical engineering and one in electrical engineering...
that coincided with Scientific Atlanta's foundation. Specifically, Emerson believed that surplus funds realized through research contracts should be returned to Georgia Tech, while the Georgia Tech Research Corporation
Georgia Tech Research Corporation
The Georgia Tech Research Corporation is an organization that supports research and technological development at Georgia Tech. It was founded in 1937 as the Industrial Development Council to be a contract organization for the Engineering Experiment Station...
and Rosselot felt they should be retained to foster additional research.
A strict conflict of interest
Conflict of interest
A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....
policy was enacted, and researchers were forced to choose between the two entities; the initial investors had all kept their faculty jobs, and most returned to them. After the fledgling company's first contract resulted in a $4,000 loss ($ today), Robinson bought all but one of the original investors and paid them each back their original $100. Consequently, Robinson left EES and became president and CEO of the new company, which would eventually be renamed to Scientific Atlanta. Boyd stayed on as a member of the board of directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
; Robinson's friend Larry Clayton, previously involved in Robinson's radio business and now having graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in physics, became the head of the new company's research and development. Years later, the school would promote Scientific Atlanta's origins at Georgia Tech, and Scientific Atlanta has been a longtime financial contributor to Georgia Tech.
Scientific Atlanta helped NASA establish ground stations for communications with astronauts during the Mercury
Project Mercury
In January 1960 NASA awarded Western Electric Company a contract for the Mercury tracking network. The value of the contract was over $33 million. Also in January, McDonnell delivered the first production-type Mercury spacecraft, less than a year after award of the formal contract. On February 12,...
, Gemini
Project Gemini
Project Gemini was the second human spaceflight program of NASA, the civilian space agency of the United States government. Project Gemini was conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, with ten manned flights occurring in 1965 and 1966....
and Apollo
Project Apollo
The Apollo program was the spaceflight effort carried out by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration , that landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Conceived during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Apollo began in earnest after President John F...
projects. When John Glenn
John Glenn
John Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...
became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962 on Mercury-Atlas 6
Mercury-Atlas 6
Mercury-Atlas 6 was a human spaceflight mission conducted by NASA, the space agency of the United States. As part of Project Mercury, MA-6 was the successful first attempt by NASA to place an astronaut into orbit. The MA-6 mission was launched February 20, 1962. It made three orbits of the Earth,...
, his voice was transmitted and received by radio antennas designed with equipment built by Scientific Atlanta. In the 1970s, Robinson recognized the potential combination of communications satellite
Communications satellite
A communications satellite is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purpose of telecommunications...
s and cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
. Ted Turner
Ted Turner
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...
purchased one of Scientific Atlanta's first satellite systems, which formed the basis of Turner's "Super Station
TBS (TV channel)
TBS , stylized in the logo as tbs, is an American cable television channel owned by Time Warner that shows a variety of programming, with a focus on comedy. TBS was originally known as WTCG, a UHF terrestrial television station that broadcast from Atlanta, Georgia, during the late 1970s...
" that was broadcast around the country to other cable providers. In 1975, HBO and TelePrompTer
TelePrompTer Corporation
TelePrompTer Corporation was a cable corporation started by Irving B. Kahn, Fred Barton, Jr and Hubert Schlafly. During the course of the corporation, in the 50's TelePrompTer invented the idea of actors in soap operas reading their lines by prompters, not scripts as they had been...
used Scientific Atlanta equipment to transmit the first live satellite-delivered cable event, the "Thrilla in Manila
Thrilla in Manila
The Thrilla in Manila was the third and final famous boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier for the Heavyweight Boxing Championship of the World, fought at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines on October 1, 1975....
" heavyweight boxing championship bout between Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
and Joe Frazier
Joe Frazier
Joseph William "Joe" Frazier , also known as Smokin' Joe, was an Olympic and Undisputed World Heavyweight boxing champion, whose professional career lasted from 1965 to 1976, with a one-fight comeback in 1981....
.
Robinson remained CEO of Scientific Atlanta for 20 years, and chairman of the board for an additional eight years, until he retired from the company in 1979. Scientific Atlanta grew dramatically; it had $3.1 million revenue in 1962 ($ million today), approximately $200 million when Robinson left in 1979 ($ million today), and $1.9 billion in revenue in 2005. Scientific Atlanta also served as a regional business incubator
Business incubator
Business incubators are programs designed to accelerate the successful development of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources and services, developed and orchestrated by incubator management and offered both in the incubator and through its network of contacts...
, with hundreds of companies tracing their roots back to it.
Later career
Robinson founded E-Tech in 1978, which developed heat pumpHeat pump
A heat pump is a machine or device that effectively "moves" thermal energy from one location called the "source," which is at a lower temperature, to another location called the "sink" or "heat sink", which is at a higher temperature. An air conditioner is a particular type of heat pump, but the...
technology. Eight years later, in 1986, E-Tech merged with the Marvair Company to become Crispaire, which specialized in cooling equipment for telecommunications systems. Crispaire would later merge with other companies, and is now known as AirExcel. Robinson retired from Crispaire in 1997.
In 1994, Robinson helped start LaserCraft, which focused on applications of lidar
LIDAR
LIDAR is an optical remote sensing technology that can measure the distance to, or other properties of a target by illuminating the target with light, often using pulses from a laser...
such as radar gun
Radar gun
A radar speed gun is a small doppler radar unit used to measure the speed of moving objects, including vehicles, pitched baseballs, runners and other moving objects. Radar speed guns may be hand-held, vehicle-mounted or static...
s and traffic enforcement cameras, and in 2007 was the world's largest manufacturer of laser products for law enforcement. LaserCraft was acquired by Public Safety Equipment in June 2006, which was in turn acquired by Stirling Square Capital Partners and Diamond Castle Holdings
Diamond Castle Holdings
Diamond Castle Holdings is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in middle-market companies across a range of industries including the media, healthcare, financial services, power and industrial sectors....
in February 2007.
Robinson has been an angel investor
Angel investor
An angel investor or angel is an affluent individual who provides capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity...
, particularly in the fields of digital communications and biotechnology
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
. In 1999, He funded OmniMetrix and Mission Communications, two companies focused on AMPS cellular digital control channel and Internet communications. In 2000, he invested $1.5 million ($ million today) in Genomic Solutions Inc. Most recently, Robinson is an investor in and co-founder of the 2007 VentureLab
VentureLab
VentureLab is a technology commercialization project launched at Georgia Tech in 2001. It has since been adopted by the Georgia Research Alliance for other research universities in the state of Georgia...
startup, C2 Biofuels, which aims to build several $100 million cellulosic ethanol
Cellulosic ethanol
Cellulosic ethanol is a biofuel produced from wood, grasses, or the non-edible parts of plants.It is a type of biofuel produced from lignocellulose, a structural material that comprises much of the mass of plants. Lignocellulose is composed mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin...
plants throughout the US.
Legacy
Robinson has held positions on numerous boards, including: Chairman of the Georgia Science and Technology Commission; Chairman of the Georgia Tech Research CorporationGeorgia Tech Research Corporation
The Georgia Tech Research Corporation is an organization that supports research and technological development at Georgia Tech. It was founded in 1937 as the Industrial Development Council to be a contract organization for the Engineering Experiment Station...
; Trustee of The Georgia Tech Foundation
Georgia Tech Foundation
The Georgia Tech Foundation provides financial assistance to the Georgia Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1932 and chartered under the tax laws of the United States as a non-profit 501 corporation. In 2010, the foundation provided $111 million in support to the institute, including $18...
and Member of the Board of Visitors of Emory University; the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce
Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce
The Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce is the chamber of commerce for the Atlanta metropolitan area. It was founded in 1859....
; and the Georgia Business and Industry Association.
Robinson was selected as Georgia's Small Businessman of the Year in 1965, the Georgia Business and Industry Association's (now the Georgia Chamber of Commerce
Georgia Chamber of Commerce
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce is a statewide membership organization centered on a mission of pro-business advocacy and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia...
) Entrepreneur of the Year in 1981, and was elected to the Georgia Technology Hall of Fame in 1993. Since 1995, Scientific Atlanta has sponsored scholarships in Robinson's name for children of Scientific Atlanta employees. In March 1998, Robinson donated to create two endowed chairs: the Glen P. Robinson Chair in Non-Linear Science (in the School of Physics) and the $1.5 million Glen P. Robinson Chair in Electro-Optics (in GTRI).
In 2003, Georgia Tech awarded him an honorary Ph.D. in physics, and in 2006 he was awarded with the Joseph Mayo Pettit Alumni Distinguished Service Award. In 2007, half of Georgia Tech's Molecular Science and Engineering Building was named the Glen P. Robinson, Jr. Tower in his honor, due in part to his $5 million donation towards its construction. As of 2006, he and his wife, Jan, have five children and 12 grandchildren and live in Atlanta.