Eric Edward Fullerton (born May 7, 1962) from the University of California, San Diego, was named Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 2012 [1] "for contributions to the synthesis and characterization of magnetic exchange coupled films, superlattices and recording media".
In 2018, Fullerton was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for the invention and development of multilayer high-density magnetic recording media.
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.
Lubomyr Taras Romankiw was a Ukrainian-Canadian-American computer scientist, researcher and inventor. Although a Canadian citizen, he spent his entire career at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York. He was an IBM fellow, the highest Technical ranking at IBM.
Jack Keil Wolf was an American researcher in information theory and coding theory.
Richard J. Gambino was an American material scientist best known for his pioneering work with amorphous magnetic materials.
Peter A. Franaszek is an American information theorist, an IEEE Fellow, a research staff member emeritus at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center and a former member of the IBM Academy of Technology. He received his Sc.B. from Brown University in 1962, and his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1966.
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.
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.
Dieter Weller is a computer engineer from HGST, a company owned by Western Digital of San Jose, California. He was named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 2015 for his contributions to heat-assisted magnetic recording media.
Bruce Alvin Gurney was an American physicist responsible for pioneering advances in magnetic recording. In particular, he was central to the development of the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) sensors first used in hard disk drives in 1997.
Shun-ichi Iwasaki is a Japanese engineer. He was professor at Tohoku University and then became president and of Tohoku Institute of Technology. He was also a professor at Lanzhou University (China). Iwasaki's pioneering work on perpendicular magnetic recording has been integral to the development of modern hard disk drives.
Charles Denis Mee was a British-American engineer, physicist, and author who was 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 of several books on magnetic recording.
Stéphane Mangin is a physicist and professor at the University of Lorraine in Nancy, France. He is head of the Nanomagnetism and Spintronics group at the Institut Jean Lamour, a laboratory jointly run by the CNRS and the University of Lorraine.
James "Jim" U. Lemke was an American physicist and entrepreneur who lived in San Diego. He developed magnetic recording and internal combustion engine technologies.
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
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.
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.
Neal Bertram is a physicist noted for his contributions to the theory of magnetic recording. From 1968 to 1985, he worked for Ampex Corporation in Redwood City. From 1985 to 2004, he was an Endowed Chair Professor at the Center for Memory and Recording Research (CMRR), University of California at San Diego. He is the author of the book "Theory of Magnetic Recording". He is an elected Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. In 2003, he won the IEEE Reynold B. Johnson Information Storage Systems Award.
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.
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 1 October 2022.