Henryk Magnuski
Encyclopedia
Henryk Władysław Magnuski (1909 Warsaw
-1978) was a Polish
telecommunications engineer who worked for Motorola
in Chicago
. He was the inventor of one of the first Walkie-Talkie
s and one of the authors of his company success in the fields of radio communication.
. Having lost both parents at a relatively early age, he supported himself and his sister Janina by fixing and installing radios for the Polish military. He received his degree from Warsaw University of Technology
in 1934 and started working for the State Tele and Radiotechnical Works (Państwowe Zakłady Tele i Radiotechniczne) in Warsaw
.
In June 1939 he was sent by his company to New York in order to study the latest American projects of radio transmitters. Soon after his arrival to the USA Poland was invaded by Germany and World War II
broke out. His return home became impossible.
(the company changed the name in 1947 to Motorola
). He is credited with three patents related to the design of Motorola's SCR-300 FM "Walkie-Talkie
" radio, a hugely popular unit with American forces in Europe
, and he received a U. S. Navy Certificate of Commendation for Outstanding Service for development of the AN/CPN-6 Radar Beacon, a microwave
device which aided carrier
pilots to find their ship during low visibility conditions.
After the war he did not return to the communist People's Republic of Poland
and stayed in the USA. He helped in the development of VHF cavity resonators that allowed adjacent channel operation, was a key designer for the Motorola Sensicon receiver which used a selective filter in front of the IF amplifier
, and created microwave relay equipment for use in transmitting multi-channel telephone, data and TV. In Motorola's Government Electronics Division he developed the SSB Radio Central Concept AN/USC-3, Motorola’s RADEM system (RADAS), the Deltaplex I digital troposcatter system and lightweight tropo equipment AN/TRC-105.
He succumbed to cancer at his home in Glenview, Illinois
on May 4, 1978.
The Henry Magnuski Electrical and Computer Engineering professorship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
is named in his honor. It is currently held by Professor Richard Blahut
.
On October 6th, 2006, Henryk Magnuski was one of the first five inductees into the Illinois Engineering Hall of Fame.
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
-1978) was a Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
telecommunications engineer who worked for Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. He was the inventor of one of the first Walkie-Talkie
Walkie-talkie
A walkie-talkie is a hand-held, portable, two-way radio transceiver. Its development during the Second World War has been variously credited to Donald L. Hings, radio engineer Alfred J. Gross, and engineering teams at Motorola...
s and one of the authors of his company success in the fields of radio communication.
Early years
Magnuski was born on January 30, 1909 in WarsawWarsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
. Having lost both parents at a relatively early age, he supported himself and his sister Janina by fixing and installing radios for the Polish military. He received his degree from Warsaw University of Technology
Warsaw University of Technology
The Warsaw University of Technology is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland, and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professors . The student body numbers 36,156 , mostly full-time. There are 17 faculties covering almost all fields of...
in 1934 and started working for the State Tele and Radiotechnical Works (Państwowe Zakłady Tele i Radiotechniczne) in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
.
In June 1939 he was sent by his company to New York in order to study the latest American projects of radio transmitters. Soon after his arrival to the USA Poland was invaded by Germany and 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...
broke out. His return home became impossible.
Motorola
In 1940 he started working for the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
(the company changed the name in 1947 to Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
). He is credited with three patents related to the design of Motorola's SCR-300 FM "Walkie-Talkie
Walkie-talkie
A walkie-talkie is a hand-held, portable, two-way radio transceiver. Its development during the Second World War has been variously credited to Donald L. Hings, radio engineer Alfred J. Gross, and engineering teams at Motorola...
" radio, a hugely popular unit with American forces in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and he received a U. S. Navy Certificate of Commendation for Outstanding Service for development of the AN/CPN-6 Radar Beacon, a microwave
Microwave
Microwaves, a subset of radio waves, have wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as short as one millimeter, or equivalently, with frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. This broad definition includes both UHF and EHF , and various sources use different boundaries...
device which aided carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
pilots to find their ship during low visibility conditions.
After the war he did not return to the communist People's Republic of Poland
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
and stayed in the USA. He helped in the development of VHF cavity resonators that allowed adjacent channel operation, was a key designer for the Motorola Sensicon receiver which used a selective filter in front of the IF amplifier
Amplifier
Generally, an amplifier or simply amp, is a device for increasing the power of a signal.In popular use, the term usually describes an electronic amplifier, in which the input "signal" is usually a voltage or a current. In audio applications, amplifiers drive the loudspeakers used in PA systems to...
, and created microwave relay equipment for use in transmitting multi-channel telephone, data and TV. In Motorola's Government Electronics Division he developed the SSB Radio Central Concept AN/USC-3, Motorola’s RADEM system (RADAS), the Deltaplex I digital troposcatter system and lightweight tropo equipment AN/TRC-105.
Retirement
At retirement after 30 years of cooperation with the company, he was the Associate Director of Research for Motorola's Government Electronics Division, had 30 patents related to VHF and microwave communications, was an IEEE Fellow and author of numerous technical papers and a chapter in the "Communication System Engineering Handbook".He succumbed to cancer at his home in Glenview, Illinois
Glenview, Cook County, Illinois
Glenview is a suburban village located approximately north of downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 41,847...
on May 4, 1978.
The Henry Magnuski Electrical and Computer Engineering professorship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
is named in his honor. It is currently held by Professor Richard Blahut
Richard Blahut
Richard Blahut, former chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is best known for his work in information theory . He received his PhD Electrical Engineering from Cornell University in 1972.Blahut taught at Cornell from 1973 to...
.
On October 6th, 2006, Henryk Magnuski was one of the first five inductees into the Illinois Engineering Hall of Fame.
Publications
- H. Magnuski. Cavity Resonators in Mobile Communications. Communications, August, 1949
- H. Magnuski. Application of Microwave Relay to Commercial Communication Systems. 1949 Southwestern I.R.E. Conference - Dallas, Texas
- H. Magnuski. Private Line Microwave Systems. IRE Professional Group on Vehicular Communications National Meeting - Detroit, Michigan, November 3rd, 1950
- H. Magnuski. Adjacent Channel Rejection Receiver. Electronics Magazine, January, 1951
- H. Magnuski. The Microwave Relay Communication System - General Technical Philosophy & Specific Engineering Solution. Fourth Southwestern IRE Conference - Houston Texas, May 17, 1952
- H. Magnuski, Theodore F. Koch. Passive Repeater Bends Microwave Beam. Electronics Magazine, February, 1953
- H. Magnuski, Harold A. Jones. Packaged Microwave Relay Systems. Radio Electronic Engineering, March, 1953
- H. Magnuski. The Microwave Relay and its Relationship to VHF Vehicular Communication. I.R.E. Convention - Washington, D.C., June 23, 1953
- H. Magnuski, Dr. William L. Firestone, Angus MacDonald. Modulation Sideband Splatter of VHF and UHF Transmitters. Proceedings of the National Electronic Conference, Vol 10 February, 1955
- H. Magnuski. An Explanation of Fading in Microwave Relay Systems. IRE National Convention, March 21, 1955
- H. Magnuski. An Explanation of Microwave Fading and Its Correction by Frequency Diversity. Winter General Meeting of the AIEE, January 30, 1956
- H. Magnuski. Comparison of SSB and FM for VHF Mobile Service. Proceedings of the I.R.E, Vol. 44 No. 12, December, 1956
- H. Magnuski. Comparison of SSB and FM for VHF Mobile Service. IRE Transactions on Vehicular Communications, PGVC-9, June, 1957
- Dr. William L. Firestone, H. Magnuski, Roy A. Richardson. Single Sideband for Mobile Applications. AIEE Fall General Meeting - Chicago, Illinois, October 11, 1957
- Dr. William L. Firestone, H. Magnuski, A. A. MacDonald, R. A. Richardson. Synchronous SSB for Communications. Electronic Industries, April, 1958
- Dr. William L. Firestone, H. Magnuski. Report on Single Sideband Communications. New York Section of AIEE, April 30, 1958
- Dr. William L. Firestone, H. Magnuski. SSB for Spectrum Conservation. Globe Com II - St. Petersburg, Florida, December 3, 1958
- H. Magnuski. Single Sideband for Communications. CMEC Communications Symposium, June 11, 1959
- H. Magnuski. Jamming of Communications Systems Using FM, AM and SSB Modulation. IRE Transactions on Military Electronics, MIL-5 No. 1 8-11, January, 1961
- H. Magnuski. Wideband Channel for Emergency Communications. IRE Transactions on Vehicular Communications, Vol. VC-10 No. 2, August, 1961
- Willis DeHart, H. Magnuski. Analysis of Random Access Discrete Address System. IRE Eighth National Communications Symposium, October, 1962
- H. Magnuski. RADA and Satellite Communications. 1962 National Symposium on Space Electronics and Telemetry - Miami Beach, October 2, 1962
- H. Magnuski. RADAS - A New Concept in Communications Systems. Motorola Engineering Bulletin, Vol. 11, Issues 1 and 2, 1963
- H. Magnuski. Anti-Jamming Characteristics of RADAS. IRE Winter Convention on Military Electronics - Los Angeles, February, 1963
- H. Magnuski. RADAS and Satellite Communication. National Symposium on Space Electronics and Telemetry, October 2, 1962
- H. Magnuski. Microwave Fading and its Correction by Diversity Reception. Wire and Radio Communications, November, 1964
- H. Magnuski, W. Braun, L. Engelbrecht, F. R. Steel. Delta-Multiplex for Long Tropo Scatter Links. IEEE International Convention, 1965
- H. Magnuski. Deltaplex - A Novel Solution to Troposcatter Communications Problems. Fourth Canadian Symposium on Communications, October 14, 1966
- H. Magnuski, L. Engelbrecht, W. E. Yost, Jr. Digital Techniques Promise New Applications for Tropo. Signal Magazine, 1967
- H. Magnuski. Upgrading the Tropo Span. Motorola Engineering Bulletin. April 4, 1967
- H. Magnuski. The Principles of Vehicular Communication Systems Design. IEEE First Symposium on Vehicular Communications Systems, May 25, 1967
- H. Magnuski. Chapter 18 - Address Communication Systems. Communication System Engineering Handbook - Donald. H. Hamsher, Ed., June, 1967, McGraw-Hill, NY. ISBN 0-07-025960-7
- H. Magnuski. A Novel Solution to Troposcatter Communication Problems. Telecommunications, January, 1968