Christopher H. Bajorek

Last updated
Christopher H. Bajorek
Christopher H. Bajorek 1990.jpg
Christopher H. Bajorek
Born (1943-11-26) November 26, 1943 (age 79)
Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine
Alma mater Pasadena City College, Caltech
Occupation(s)engineer, business executive
Employer(s) IBM, Komag Inc.
SpouseJanet Fullmer
ChildrenPeter C., Jennifer L.
Parent(s)George L. H., Rosalia (Lipka) B.
Awards

Christopher Henry Bajorek (born November 26, 1943) is a data storage engineer noted for his leadership in developing and implementing magnetoresistive sensors into magnetic stripe readers, tape drives and hard disk drives. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Christopher Henry Bajorek was born in Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine, on November 26, 1943. His parents were George L. H. (POW Kolyma, Russia, 1940–42) and Rosalia (Lipka) B. (POW Kazakhstan, Russia, 1940–42); He married Janet Fullmer in 1965. They have two children: Peter C. and Jennifer L.
Bajorek attended Pasadena City College [2] before transferring to the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, where he received a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in 1967, a Master of Science (M.S.), in electrical engineering (EE) in 1968; and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering in 1972 all from Caltech. He now resides in Los Gatos, California. [3]

Career

Bajorek joined IBM Yorktown in 1971 becoming part of the research effort led by David Thompson and Lubomyr Romankiw studying readback devices based on magnetoresistance. Bajorek made numerous contributions. [4] [5] [6] The collaboration between IBM Yorktown and the IBM product divisions, led to these magnetoresistive devices becoming ubiquitous in reading magnetic stripe cards (Credit/Debit cards, transportation tickets, identity cards etc.) and in digital tape recording and in hard disk drives. [7] [8] The point-of-sale hand-held magnetoresistive transducer represented the first commercialization of the effect discovered by Lord Kelvin in 1856.

In 1979, Bajorek took a one-year assignment in IBM's East Fishkill and contributed to the development of IBM's bipolar logic chip and multilayer ceramic packaging technologies used in the IBM 360 mainframes. Based on this experience, Bajorek established the Advanced Packaging Technology Laboratory (APTL) and was appointed its first director in 1980. This collaboration between East Fishkill and the Thomas J. Watson Research Center was IBM's second interdivisional lab. to be established. [9]

In 1981, Bajorek transferred from the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY to the San Jose Research Center (now IBM Research – Almaden) in California where he was appointed director of storage systems and technology. He also co-founded IBM's Magnetic Recording Institute (MRI) with Denis Mee. Mee was its first director and Bajorek became its second director in 1984 when he transferred to the IBM General Product Division (GPD). This was the third of IBM's interdivisional laboratories to be established. This time between GPD and the San Jose Research Center. The APTL and MRI collaborations were among the first of eventually 19 joint programs at IBM specifically instigated by Ralph Gomory and designed to bridge between the Research and the Development organizations. [9] [10]

In 1985, Bajorek was appointed laboratory director of technology development and manufacturing for GPD, San Jose, responsible for MRI as well as head and disk development and manufacturing. In this role, Bajorek directed the development of the first generation MR head for disk drives and the industry's first MR head-based disk drive, the Sawmill 5 ¼ in. drive, which shipped in 1990. Bajorek also contributed directly to the technology with innovations such as shunted soft adjacent layer (SAL) [11] [12] for linearizing the MR head response and antiferromagnetic (AFM)-based pinning of soft layers; and longitudinal permanent magnet biasing of the free layer [13] [14] to achieve single domain (Barkhausen noise free) operation of MR heads. These innovations were key to the success of subsequent generations of MR heads, the GMR and TMR heads. [15] [16] [17] In 1987, Bajorek transferred to IBM Rochester, MN and was appointed director of storage products. He was responsible for developing and manufacturing small form factor drive products as well as being responsible for developing technologies used by IBM Fujisawa, Japan and IBM Hursley, UK disk drives. Noteworthy were IBM's first thin-film disk used in the 5 ¼ in. Lee drive, shipped in 1988; the first PRML data channel designed for hard drives which was used in Hursley's 5 ¼ in. Redwing drive, shipped in 1990; and the industry's second MR head-based disk drive, the Corsair 3 ½ in drive, shipped in 1991. Corsair was the industry's first 3 ½ in. drive to achieve 1 GB data capacity [18]

In 1991, Bajorek returned to San Jose becoming vice president of technology development and Manufacturing responsible for all technologies used in IBM's disk drives.
In 1996, Bajorek retired from IBM and joined Komag, Inc. [19] in San Jose, California, as executive vice president of advanced technology. [20] Bajorek retired from Komag in 2004. Since that time he has served as director of the International Disk Drive Equipment & Materials Association. [21] He has also been an expert witness in several cases notably the patent infringement brought by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) against Marvell Technologies that resulted in a $750 million settlement. [22] [23] Bajorek is a member of the Storage Special Interest Group at the Computer History Museum, Mountain View, California.

Litigation with IBM

After Bajorek joined Komag, in a precedent-setting case, IBM attempted to clawback monies received by Bajorek from vesting stock options citing a non-compete clause signed by Bajorek. At issue were whether Komag was a competitor or supplier to IBM and whether the non-compete clause could be enforced under California State law. Bajorek won the Federal lower court case via a declaratory judgment in 1997. However, in 1999, this was overturned when IBM appealed to the Federal Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, CA. This led to a settlement between Komag and IBM and left the Ninth Circuit Court's Decision as precedent. Finally, however, in 2008, in a different case, California's Supreme Court specifically rejected the Ninth Circuit's IBM vs. Bajorek decision, viewing it as illegal under California law. [24] [25] [26] [27]

Awards and recognition

Only three people have won both the Millenium medal and the Johnson award: Charles Denis Mee, Mark Kryder, and Christopher H. Bajorek.

As of 2019 Bajorek is the author of 14 scientific publications [31] and is an assignee on 24 patents. [6] [32]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hard disk drive</span> Data storage device

A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magnetic material. The platters are paired with magnetic heads, usually arranged on a moving actuator arm, which read and write data to the platter surfaces. Data is accessed in a random-access manner, meaning that individual blocks of data can be stored and retrieved in any order. HDDs are a type of non-volatile storage, retaining stored data when powered off. Modern HDDs are typically in the form of a small rectangular box.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disk read-and-write head</span> Small, movable part of a disk drive

A disk loda is the small part of a disk drive which moves above the disk platter and transforms the platter's magnetic field into electrical current or, vice versa, transforms electrical current into magnetic field. The heads have gone through a number of changes over the years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drum memory</span> Magnetic data storage device

Drum memory was a magnetic data storage device invented by Gustav Tauschek in 1932 in Austria. Drums were widely used in the 1950s and into the 1960s as computer memory.

Non-volatile memory (NVM) or non-volatile storage is a type of computer memory that can retain stored information even after power is removed. In contrast, volatile memory needs constant power in order to retain data.

IBM manufactured magnetic disk storage devices from 1956 to 2003, when it sold its hard disk drive business to Hitachi. Both the hard disk drive (HDD) and floppy disk drive (FDD) were invented by IBM and as such IBM's employees were responsible for many of the innovations in these products and their technologies. The basic mechanical arrangement of hard disk drives has not changed since the IBM 1301. Disk drive performance and characteristics are measured by the same standards now as they were in the 1950s. Few products in history have enjoyed such spectacular declines in cost and physical size along with equally dramatic improvements in capacity and performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnetic storage</span> Storage of data in a magnetizable medium through encoded patterns of magnetization

Magnetic storage or magnetic recording is the storage of data on a magnetized medium. Magnetic storage uses different patterns of magnetisation in a magnetizable material to store data and is a form of non-volatile memory. The information is accessed using one or more read/write heads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuart Parkin</span> British physicist

Stuart Stephen Papworth Parkin is an experimental physicist, IBM Fellow and manager of the magnetoelectronics group at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California. He is also a consulting professor in the department of applied physics at Stanford University and director of the IBM-Stanford Spintronic Science and Applications Center, which was formed in 2004.

In 1953, IBM recognized the immediate application for what it termed a "Random Access File" having high capacity and rapid random access at a relatively low cost. After considering technologies such as wire matrices, rod arrays, drums, drum arrays, etc., the engineers at IBM's San Jose California laboratory invented the hard disk drive. The disk drive created a new level in the computer data hierarchy, then termed Random Access Storage but today known as secondary storage, less expensive and slower than main memory but faster and more expensive than tape drives.

William A. Goddard was an American engineer and inventor. He earned a degree in physics from Occidental College. Before working in industry, Goddard was a high school science teacher in Los Angeles. He briefly worked in the aerospace industry for North American Aviation, Inc. before becoming an engineer at International Business Machines (IBM). His most acclaimed achievement is co-inventing along with John Lynott United States Patent 3,503,060, which is entitled “Direct Access Magnetic Disc Storage Device”. This invention is the claims modern-day hard disk drives.

John Mason "Jack" Harker was an inventor, mechanical engineer, and product and program manager who pioneered development of disk storage systems. Starting as a member of the original team that developed the first disk storage system, he went on to develop IBM Direct Access Storage products for the next 35 years. Over that time, Harker was twice director of the IBM San Jose Storage Laboratories, an IBM Fellow, and an IEEE Fellow. He retired from IBM in 1987 and died in 2013.

John Wilson Haanstra was an electrical engineer and a computer industry executive. Haanstra was notable for his chairmanship of IBM's SPREAD task force whose work led to the creation of the System/360 product line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yoshihiro Shiroishi</span>

Yoshihiro Shiroishi was born in 1951 in Tokyo, Japan. He is a Chief Architect and Technical Advisor at the Hitachi Research & Dev. Group, Tokyo, Japan. Shiroishi was named Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 2015 for leadership in the development of high density magnetic recording technologies and devices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Denis Mee</span> British data storage engineer, leader, and author

Charles Denis Mee is an engineer, physicist, and author who is noted for his contributions in the areas of magnetic recording and data storage on hard disk drives (HDD). A large part of his career was with IBM in San Jose California. He is the author or editor on several books on magnetic recording.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James U. Lemke</span> Entrepreneur, inventor, physicist (b. 1930, d. 2019)

James (Jim) U. Lemke was an American physicist and entrepreneur who lived in San Diego. He developed magnetic recording and internal combustion engine technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mason Lamar Williams</span> American engineer, physicist, and inventor in Magnetic Recording

Mason Lamar Williams III was an engineer and physicist, noted for his contributions in the areas of magnetic recording and data storage on hard disk drives (HDD). A large part of his career was with the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California. After retiring, Williams played a major role in the restoration and demonstration of the IBM RAMAC at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Fontana</span> American data storage engineer, inventor, and author

Robert E Fontana is an engineer, physicist, and author who is noted for his contributions in the areas of magnetic recording and data storage on hard disk drives (HDD) and on digital tape recorders. His work has concentrated on developing thin film processing techniques for nano-fabrication of magnetic devices including Giant Magnetoresistance read heads now used universally in magnetic recording. Much of his career was with IBM in San Jose, California. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Mallary</span> American data storage engineer, inventor, and author

Michael L. Mallary is an engineer, physicist, inventor, and author who is noted for his contributions in the areas of magnetic recording and data storage on hard disk drives (HDD). His work has concentrated on developing and optimizing magnetic components to maximize data storage density. In particular, he is responsible to inventing the 'trailing-shield' write head used universally in modern HDDs. Mallary is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and recipient of the IEEE Magnetics Society Achievement Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Thompson (engineer)</span> American data storage engineer and inventor

David A. Thompson is an American electrical engineer and inventor with a long career at IBM. He is noted for his many contributions to magnetic recording technology. Thompson was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for the invention and development of the thin-film inductive head and the magnetoresistive read head. These heads are now ubiquitous in all hard-disk drives and magnetic tape recorders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Bogy</span> American professor of mechanical engineering

David Beauregard Bogy is the William S. Floyd, Jr. Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB). He is also the founder and head of the Computer Mechanics Laboratory (CML) at UCB.. He has made particular contributions in air-bearing analysis and design for the sliders that support the read/write heads in hard disk drives (HDD).

Albert Smiley Hoagland had a long career on the development of hard disk drives (HDD) starting with the IBM RAMAC. From 1956 to 1984, he was with IBM in San Jose, California and then from 1984 to 2005 he was the director of the Institute for Information Storage Technology at Santa Clara University. He wrote the first book on Digital Magnetic Recording. Hoagland played a central role in the preservation and restoration of the IBM RAMAC now displayed at the Computer History Museum, Mountain View, California. He died in Portland, Oregon, on 1st October 2022.

References

  1. ↑ ETHW Biography: Chris Bajorek
  2. ↑ Short biography from 1972 Intermag in Kyoto
  3. ↑ Poles in America Foundation: Chris Bajorek
  4. ↑ R. L. Anderson, C. H. Bajorek, D. A. Thompson, “Numerical Analysis of a Magnetoresistive Transducer”, IEEE Trans. Mag. 10, 1445 (1973)]
  5. ↑ Bajorek et al., “An Integrated Magnetoresistive Read, Inductive Write High Density Recording Head”, AIP Conf. Proc. 24, 548 (1975)
  6. 1 2 US Patents: 4,024,489 (1977), 3,840,898 (1974), 3,887.944 (1975), 4,918,554 (1990)
  7. ↑ Bajorek et al., “Hand-held Magnetoresistive Transducer”, IBM J. Res. Dev., Vol. 18, No. 6, p.541-546, Nov. 1974
  8. ↑ Computer History Museum, "Magnetoresistive read-head HDD introduced", 1990:
  9. 1 2 Gomory, Ralph E. (December 1989). "Moving IBM's Technology From Research To Development" (PDF). Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  10. ↑ Computer History Museum, Oral History: Chris Bajorek and Dave Thompson
  11. ↑ Bajorek et al., “A Permalloy Current Sensor”, IEEE Trans. Mag. 12, No. 6, 813 (1976).
  12. ↑ Bajorek et al., “Magnetoresistive Sandwich Including Sensor Electrically Parallel With Electrical Shunt and Magnetic Biasing Layers”, US patent 4,024,489 (1977)
  13. ↑ Bajorek, et al., “Self Biased Magnetoreistive Sensor”, US patent 3,840,898 (1974)
  14. ↑ Bajorek et al. “Method for Eliminating Part of Magnetic Crosstalk in Magnetortesistive Sensors”, US patent 3,887.944 (1975).
  15. ↑ John Markov, "COMPANY NEWS; An Advanced Technology To Read Data" New York Times, Aug. 20, 1993"
  16. ↑ Computer History Museum: Magnetoresistive Heads, Nov., 2014
  17. ↑ "Hard Disk MR Technology", PC Tech Guide (retrieved Sept. 13, 2019)
  18. ↑ Wikipedia History of IBM disk drives: IBM 0671, IBM 0681, IBM 0663,
  19. ↑ Komag, Inc., San Jose, CA
  20. ↑ John Markov, "Advances Nip At Its Heels, But Disk Maker Moves Forward", New York Times, July 1, 2002
  21. ↑ International Disk Drive Equipment & Materials Association (IDEMA)
  22. ↑ Reuters: Marvell Technology to pay Carnegie-Mellon U. $750 million in patent dispute
  23. ↑ Carnegie Mellon University vs. Marvell Technology Group, Ltd.
  24. ↑ Crowell & Moring LLP: Client Alert, August 11 2008
  25. ↑ US Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit: IBM Corp. vs. Bajorek, Sept. 14, 1999
  26. ↑ UCLA Law Review 51 UCLA LAW REVIEW 593 (2003) pages 601-606
  27. ↑ Fenwick and West LLP: Employment Law Alert: September 1, 2006
  28. ↑ "C Bajorek, Life Fellow". IEEE Fellows Directory. IEEE. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  29. ↑ IEEE Magnetics Society Newsletter, August 2000: IEEE Millenium Medal
  30. ↑ "IEEE Reynold B. Johnson Information Storage Systems Award Recipient, C Bajorek". IEEE. 2002. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  31. ↑ Researchgate: C. H. Bajorek Publications
  32. ↑ Justia.com: C. H. Bajorek Patents
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.