Lawrence Giacoletto

(1916-2004)Larry Giacoletto

Larry was born in Clinton, Indiana on November 14, 1916. He followed his older brother John through the Clinton schools and on to Rose Polytechnic Institute (now Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology), where he graduated in 1938 with high honors and received his BSEE degree. In 1952, he received his PhD in electrical engineering at the University of Michigan.

From 1941 through 1945, Larry served in the Army at the Signal Corps Engineering Labs.

In 1946, he joined RCA Labs as a research engineer. He played a central role in the development of RCA’s new color TV system.

He later developed the hybrid-pi transistor for RCA. In 1956, he left RCA to join Ford Motor Company’s Scientific Laboratory.

Five years later, he took a position as Professor of Electrical Engineering at Michigan State University.

He retired from MSU as Professor Emeritus in 1987. During his career, he obtained more than 20 patents and was the author of many papers published in technical journals, as well as the book “Differential Amplifiers.”

Larry also made the time to establish CoRes (Cooperative Research) Institute in Okemos , MI , where he did research on automotive electronics, including electrically powered vehicles. He invented the homopolar alternator, which converts mechanical energy into electrical energy.

Larry made his time, talents and skills available to anyone in need. It was said that he could, and did, repair anything. He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a fellow of IEEE, and was associated with numerous other professional organizations.

Learn more about Lawrence on Wikipedia

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