Virgil Bottom
- Birthdate
- 1911/01/06
- Birthplace
- Douglass, KS, USA
- Associated organizations
- Friends University, Colorado State University, McMurry College, Motorola
- Fields of study
- Physics, Semiconductors
Biography
Virgil E. Bottom (IRE Member, 1947; and Senior Member, 1960) was born in Douglass, Kansas, on 6 January 1911. He received the A.B. degree from Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, in 1931, the M.S. degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1938, and the Ph.D. degree from Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana, in 1949.
Bottom was Professor of Physics at three institutions, including Friends University, Colorado State University, and McMurry College, Abilene, Texas. During the years 1943 to 1945, he was employed by the Signal Corps, first in OCSIGO, Crystal Section, Washington, D.C., and later at SCEL, Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. From 1953 to 1958, Bottom was employed by the Semiconductor Products Division of Motorola, Inc., Phoenix, Arizona, where he was engaged in the development of semiconductor devices. From 1948 to 1953, he was a member of the sub-panel on Frequency Control Devices of the Research Development Board, Department of Defense, Washington, D.C. By the early 1960s, Bottom returned to teaching, and he was Professor of Physics at McMurry College, in 1962.
Bottom was a member of the American Physical Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers, Sigma Xi, and Sigma Pi Sigma; a Fellow of the Texas Academy of Science; and a Senior Member of the IRE.
