Eugene McDermott | |
---|---|
Born | New York City, US | February 12, 1899
Died | August 23, 1973 74) Dallas, Texas, US | (aged
Education | 1919 Stevens Institute BSME 1925 Columbia MA Physics |
Occupation(s) | Petroleum geophysicist, Engineer, Electronics corporate executive |
Known for | Co-founder of Texas Instruments |
Spouse | Margaret Milam (m. 1952) |
Children | 1 |
Eugene McDermott (February 12, 1899 - August 23, 1973) [1] was an American engineer and geophysicist who co-founded Geophysical Service Incorporated (GSI) in 1930 and later its parent company Texas Instruments in 1951. [2] One of his most widely acclaimed early patented inventions enabled oil exploration equipment that used reflection seismographs to map underground rock strata using sound wave technology, a method still widely used today in oil exploration. [3] Other inventions ranged from geochemical applications to antisubmarine warfare, often focusing on the use of sonar. [4]
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Born in Brooklyn, New York, McDermott graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology in 1919 with a mechanical engineering degree. Upon graduation, he began working for the Goodyear Rubber Company. In 1923, McDermott found work with Western Electric Company where he first met J. Clarence Karcher. Earlier, Everette Lee DeGolyer, vice president and general manager of Amerada Petroleum Corporation, [5] [6] had learned of Karcher's 1921 experiments with the seismograph and held a meeting with Karcher that resulted in the creation of Geophysical Research Corporation (GRC) of Tulsa, where Karcher was made vice president. GRC was created as a subsidiary of Amerada Oil, of which DeGolyer was a board member and rose to the office of President.
McDermott received a Master of Arts in physics from Columbia University in 1925 and immediately began to work for his friend Karcher who hired him to work for Geophysical Research Corporation. GRC introduced the seismographic reflection method which was quickly accepted by the petroleum industry as a promising new tool. The method attempted to locate the domes and anticlines that held oil deposits, by using a controlled explosion on the surface to beam sound waves into the earth. Strategically placed sensors then recorded the speed and frequency at which the waves were reflected back to the surface by subterranean layers of rock, with the goal of creating a record of the depth, density, and physical properties of each layer.
In 1930, with the backing of Amerada President Everette Lee DeGolyer who invested $100 thousand for a 50% share, [7] Karcher and McDermott launched Geophysical Service Incorporated, a pioneering provider of seismic exploration services to the petroleum industry with Karcher as president and McDermott as vice-president. [8] McDermott's early work in petroleum exploration led to multiple papers and five patents. During the first year of operation, McDermott hired Cecil H. Green. These two would have a lasting relationship for the next 43 years. [9]
In 1939, the company reorganized as Coronado Corp., an oil company with Geophysical Service Inc (GSI), now as a subsidiary. On December 6, 1941, McDermott along with three other GSI employees, J. Erik Jonsson, Cecil H. Green, and H.B. Peacock purchased GSI. During World War II, GSI built electronics for the United States Army Signal Corps and the Navy. After the war, GSI continued to produce electronics. The rugged nature of oil equipment proved particularly suitable for use in the military which required durability in their instruments, so the military become a ready market for the company's products. In November 1945, Patrick E. Haggerty joined GSI.
In 1951, McDermott, along with Cecil Howard Green, Patrick E. Haggerty, and J. Erik Jonsson co-founded Texas Instruments, with GSI becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the new company. This acknowledged that GSI as a subsidiary would focus primarily on oil exploration and the larger parent company Texas Instruments would be focused on manufacturing. McDermott was the Chairman of TI from 1951 to 1957, Chairman of the executive committee of Board of Directors from 1957 to 1964 and Director until his death in 1973. During this period, Texas Instruments rose to be one of the world's largest corporations.
McDermott had membership in the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists for which he was president from 1933 to 1934, the Seismological Society of America, the American Physicians Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Mathematical Society, the American Geographical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. [1]
A scientist and businessman, McDermott was particularly interested in improving education, which he called "biological humanics." Along with Cecil Green, he was a co-founder of St. Mark's School of Texas in 1950; their endowment included the donation of a planetarium, observatory, and math-science quadrangle. He was a major donor to many universities and was on the boards of Southern Methodist University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. He co-founded the Graduate Research Center of the Southwest in 1961, which became the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) in 1969. In 2001, his wife Margaret endowed the Eugene McDermott Scholars Program at UTD. [10]
The couple gifted Fredericksburg, Texas with a home for the county's Pioneer Memorial Library by restoring the 1882 Gillespie County Courthouse. [11] [12]
McDermott was actively involved in the arts, on the Boards of the Dallas Public Library, the Dallas Museum of Art, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and aided in the conception of the Margo Jones Theatre, an early experiment in theatre in the round. [13]
The annual Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts was created at MIT in 1974, and carries a $100,000 stipend as of 2014 [update] . The Award celebrates individuals whose artistic trajectory reveals that they will achieve the highest distinction in their fields and continue to produce inspiring work for many years to come. The stipend represents an investment in the recipient's future creative work, rather than a prize for a particular project or lifetime of achievement. The awardee becomes an artist in residence at MIT, studying and teaching for a period of time. [14]
He died at his home in Dallas on August 23, 1973, after an illness of several months. He was buried at Hillcrest Memorial Park in Dallas after services were held at Dallas's Highland Park Methodist Church. [15]
Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American semiconductor company headquartered in Dallas, Texas that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits. It is one of the top 10 semiconductor companies worldwide based on sales volume. The company's focus is on developing analog chips and embedded processors, which account for more than 80% of its revenue. TI also produces TI digital light processing technology and education technology products including calculators, microcontrollers, and multi-core processors.
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Reflection seismology is a method of exploration geophysics that uses the principles of seismology to estimate the properties of the Earth's subsurface from reflected seismic waves. The method requires a controlled seismic source of energy, such as dynamite or Tovex blast, a specialized air gun or a seismic vibrator. Reflection seismology is similar to sonar and echolocation.
Cecil Howard Green was a British-born American geophysicist, electrical engineer, and electronics manufacturing executive, who trained at the University of British Columbia and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Geophysical Service Inc. was a Texas-based company founded by John Clarence Karcher and Eugene McDermott in 1930, for the purpose of using refraction and reflection seismology to explore for petroleum deposits.
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Hess Corporation is an American global independent energy company involved in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas. It was formed by the merger of Hess Oil and Chemical and Amerada Petroleum in 1968. Leon Hess was CEO from the early 1960s through 1995, after which his son John B Hess succeeded him as chairman and CEO. The company has agreed to be acquired by rival oil company Chevron.
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Patrick Eugene Haggerty was an American engineer and businessman. He was a co-founder and former president and chairman of Texas Instruments, Incorporated (TI). Under his leadership, the company grew from a small Texas oil exploration company into a global leader in the semiconductor industry. During his tenure, TI invested in transistors when their commercial value was still much in question, created the first silicon transistor, the first commercial transistor radio, the first integrated circuit, and helped develop and produce the first single chip microprocessor.
John Clarence Karcher was an American geophysicist and businessman. He invented and eventually commercialized the reflection seismograph, applying for patents in 1919. By the patenting, and development of reflection seismography, he created the means by which most of the world's oil reserves have been discovered. In 1930 he, Eugene McDermott, and Everette Lee DeGolyer founded Geophysical Service Incorporated, a pioneering provider of seismic exploration services to the petroleum industry that focused on reflection seismology.
Everette Lee DeGolyer, was a prominent oil company executive, petroleum exploration geophysicist and philanthropist in Dallas. He was known as "the founder of applied geophysics in the petroleum industry", as "the father of American geophysics," and was a legendary collector of rare and often early edition books primarily in the fields of Southwestern history, railroads, law, geology, science, and both English and American literature.
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The Pioneer Memorial Library is located at 115 W. Main Street, Fredericksburg, Gillespie County, in the U.S. state of Texas. Designed by Alfred Giles, it was built in 1882 to replace the original 1855 courthouse, and was later superseded by the current 1939 courthouse designed by Edward Stein. The first floor houses the Children's Section, while the second floor houses the Adult Section, Texas Room, and newspapers and magazines. It is also called the McDermott Building because of the 1967 and 1984 restorations funded by Mr. & Mrs. Eugene McDermott. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, and was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1967.
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