Walter P. Dyke
- Birthdate
- 1914/12/09
- Birthplace
- Forest Grove, OR, USA
- Associated organizations
- Linfield College
- Fields of study
- Physics, Electron devices
- Awards
- IEEE David Sarnoff Award
Biography
Dr. Walter P. Dyke was born in Forest Grove, Oregon on December 9, 1914. He received the B.A. degree in Physics from Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon in 1938 with high honors and the Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Washington in 1946. In the meantime he was a staff member of the Radiation Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1942 to 1945 where he was instrumental in the development of large airborne radar systems. He received the Presidential Certificate of Merit in 1948 from President Harry Truman for those contributions to World War II science.
In 1946 he returned to Linfield College as Professor of Physics and then was made head of the Physics Department in 1947. He was later Director of Research and in 1955 founded and directed the Linfield Research Institute until 1961.
It was an outgrowth of the Institute's research which led to the formation of the Field Emission Corporation. In 1958 the Institute was responsible for a new flash X-ray tube. The Navy liked it and requested 50 for ballistics research. The Institute formed Femcor to make them. Today the company has the world's foremost collection of field-emission scientists. Dr. Dyke is President of the corporation. In addition he is a director of Oregon Graduate Center for Study and Research and- a trustee of Linfield College. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Tektronix, Inc., The Millicent Foundation, Melridge, Inc., Western Electronic and a member of the Oregon State Technical Services Advisory Council. He has been honored with the Electronic Achievement Award, Region Seven, I.R.E., 1958, the Oregon Academy of Science Citation in 1958, and the Edith Knight Hill Award for an outstanding contribution to Oregon by Theta Sigma Phi National Fraternity, 1966.
His research work has covered the areas of Electron physics, field emission, surface physics, vacuum arc, high voltage technology, and radiation sources. He has had 31 U. S. and foreign patents issued, with several still pending. He has published papers in a variety of scientific fields and presented a series of technical lectures in Europe in 1963.
Dr. Dyke's photography interests have gained him national prominence in newspapers, national magazines and calendars.
