Edward Keonjian

Edward Keonjian

Biography

Edward Keonjian was born in Tiflis, Russia on August 14th 1909, and eventually moved to Leningrad. He obtained his Ph.D. from the Leningrad Institute of Electrical Engineering in 1932 and eventually was a professor there.

During World War II he survived cold and hunger during the Siege of Leningrad and later escaped from a German slave labor camp with his wife and son. Dr. Keonjian told his story in his autobiography "Survived to Tell," which he wrote when he was 87 years old.

At the age of 38 he moved his family to the U.S. where he worked for General Electric in Schenectady, N.Y. There he and eight other engineers published "Principles of Trimsistor Circuits." He later edited and co-authored "Microelectronics: Theory, Design and Fabrication" which sold more than a million copies and was translated into six languages. He authored more than 100 other publications and held 27 patents.

He spent several years in Egypt and India as an electronics specialist for the United Nations. From 1994-97 he was an adjunct professor at the University of Arizona, and later became Distinguished Professor in Residence from 1997 till his death. There he endowed the Edward Keonjian Visiting Professorship in Microelectronics.

Keonjian died on September 6th, 1999.