Raymond A. Heising, 1888 - 1965

Raymond A. Heising was born August 10, 1888, at Albert Lea, Minn. He received a degree in electrical engineering from the University of North Dakota in 1912 and the master's degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1914.

From 1914 until his retirement in 1953, Dr. Heising was associated with the Western Electric Company and Bell Telephone Laboratories. He played a major role in the development of radio-telephone systems for military use in World War I, and for transoceanic and ship-to-shore public service use. He also conducted much research work on ultra-short waves, electronics and piezoelectric crystal devices. He invented several modulation systems which are still in wide use today: the constant potential system, the grid modulation system for radio, the rectifier modulation system used in carrier telephony, and in particular, the constant-current or Heising modulation system. He has over one hundred United States patents, including the patents on the Class C amplifier and diode-triode detector amplifier circuit, and has published numerous technical papers in engineering journals.

Since 1953 Dr. Heising has been engaged as an independent consulting engineer and patent agent. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and American Physical Society. He was awarded the Modern Pioneer Award from the National Association of Manufacturers in 1940. He received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of North Dakota in 1947, and the Armstrong Medal from the Radio Club of America in 1954.

An Associate of the IRE since 1920 and winner of the Morris Liebmann Memorial Prize in 1921, he became a Fellow in 1923. He served as IRE President in 1939, Treasurer from 1943 to 1945, and as an elected member of the Board of Directors for seventeen years. He was chairman of numerous IRE committees, among them the committees on Sections, Professional Groups and Office Quarters.

Dr. Heising will receive the IRE Founders Award, an award which is given only on special occasions to outstanding leaders in the radio industry, at the banquet of the annual IRE National Convention this month. The award is being bestowed upon him "for his leadership in Institute affairs, for his contributions to the establishment of the permanent IRE Headquarters, and for originating the Professional Group system." (Editor´s Note: Dr. Heising passed away in January 1965, in New Jersey.)

From the March 1957 Proceedings of the IRE