Edward Keonjian
The wide possibilities of low-power electronics
Edward Keonjian was an Armenian American engineer and a pioneer of low-power electronics. Born in Tiflis in 1909, he trained in Leningrad. After surviving the hardships of the Second World War, he emigrated to the United States in 1947.
At General Electric, he worked on making electronic devices smaller and more energy-efficient. His notable developments included a solar-powered pocket radio transmitter in 1954. In 1963, he edited and co-authored an influential volume on the theory, design and fabrication of microelectronics.
Later, at Grumman, he contributed to reliability and failure-analysis work for the Apollo programme. He supported research and education in microelectronics at the University of Arizona. Keonjian died in 1999, leaving a legacy of turning scientific knowledge into practical devices and sharing it with younger engineers.