Eric E. Sumner

Eric E. Sumner (December 17 1923 - January 19 1993) was an austrian engineer and scientist, well known for hiscontributions to the early developments of switching systems. [ [http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/history_center/biography/sumner.html biography] from IEEE] [ [http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4779&page=228 Memorial tribute] ]

Born in Vienna, he moved to the New York City where he went to
Brooklyn Technical High School, earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Cooper Union (1948),an M.A. in physics (1953) and electrical engineering from Columbia University (1960).Sumner joined Bell Labs (1948) where he became leader of the group that developed the
pulse code modulation transmission system (1955), later director of transmission systems (1960) that developed the T1 carrier system (1962).Following this, he led the underwater transmission laboratory projects on submarine surveillance systems (1962-67),the transmission media division in Atlanta, Georgia (1967-71) and the loop division (1971-) where he oversaw development of computerized network management systems.After retiring (1989) he served as president of the IEEE (1991) and was chairman of New Jersey Inventor's Hall of Fame.Sumner died of heart failure. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEFDC143BF931A15752C0A965958260 Eric R. Sumner, 68, an engineer is dead] from New York Times]

He held eleven patents, was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (1988).Sumner was an IEEE Fellow and receiver of the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medaljointly with M. Robert Aaron and John S. Mayo (1978). The IEEE Eric E. Sumner award includes a bronze medal and was instituted in his name (1995). [ [http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/about/awards/sums/sumner.html IEEE Eric E. Sumner Award] ]

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