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OCR for page 190
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OCR for page 191
MERVIN JOE KELLY
February 14, 1894-March 18, 1971
BY JOHN R. PIERCE
IN PREPARING this memoir of a remarkable man, I now regret
that I did not have a closer association with him. During his
life, I regarded Mervin Kelly as an almost supernatural force.
While I saw him many times in the course of my work at Bell
Laboratories, usually with others, and a few times in his home,
I did not seek him out for fear of being strucl; by lightning.
Thus I have had to rely on other sources for some aspects of
his life and personality. In quoting directly from such sources,
I have in some cases eliminated passages or inserted explanatory
material in brackets; I have not otherwise altered the writer's
text.
In trying to organize the material in a sensible way, I have
put Kelly's character ant! work first; then his ideas concerning
research and technology; and following these, a brief biographi-
cal sketch; a list of honors, awards, and memberships; and a
bibliography.
THE MAN AND HIS WORKS
Mervin Kelly had great intelligence and great force.
work with R. A. Millikan at the University of Chicago gave
him a lasting appreciation of the rarity and importance of
first-rate scientists and first-rate research. He himself did cred-
itable physical research. Later at the Western Electric Company
191
OCR for page 192
192
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
and at the Bell Laboratories (which was not formed until
1925), he did early and important work on vacuum tubes,
including research, development, and manufacture. His group
increased the life of telephone repeater (amplifier) tubes from
1,000 to 80,000 hours and led by 1933 to a transmitting tube
for transatlantic telephony and broadcasting with an unprece-
dented power of 100,000 watts, later to a tube with a power of
250,000 watts.
It is clear, however, that Kelly's greatest contribution lay in
creative technical management. It is no more than just to say
that Kelly made Bell Laboratories the foremost industrial labo-
ratory in the world. He recognized and inspired good men and
good work. He assessed and drove to completion important
technical potentialities and opportunities. He shaped and man-
aged a complex organization. And, he inspired the confidence
and won the support of the management of AT&T and of the
operating telephone companies of the Bell .Sv.~tem
rig A" ~ ~ V. ^~~ As Fred-
erick R. Kappel, former board chairman of AT&T said after
Kelly's death:
"He was a great fellow for the Bell System. Mervin was
always and forever pushing the operating management, and the
heads of AT&T as shell, to get on with new things. His aggres-
siveness got him in a lot of hot arguments, but I always sat back
and said, 'Give it to them, Mervin, that's what we need.' Every
place needs a fireball or sparkplug, and he was it."
Kelly was not only a sparkplug; he combined determination
and showmanship. Twice he submitted his resignation to the
president of AT&T, stating that important work at Bell Labo-
ratories was not being adequately funded. In each case, he got
the funds. Surely, he was sincere, but he was dramatic as well.
Kelly's potentials as a manager and organizer were not recog-
nized immediately. It is said that H. D. Arnold kept him for a
long time at a low administrative level because he distrusted
his judgment. One contemporary said that Kelly always had a
OCR for page 193
MERVIN JOE KELLY
193
reason for his actions, but one might not agree with the reason.
Oliver Buckley is quoted as having once said that when Kelly
was made director of research in 1936, those who were put
directly under him were men who could take his personality
and so protect those at lower levels. Yet, it became clear that
Kelly's very positive virtues outweighed any shortcomings. He
was made executive vice president in 1944 and president in
1951.
Certainly, Kelly had a temper that frightened many. When
provoked he would turn dark red, but a moment later he would
be normal again. Harald Friis, who admired Kelly greatly,
notes that at a large conference "He [Kelly] got excited and
made what I thought were derogatory remarks about my boys.
I got mad as a hornet and could not sleep for several nights.
A few days later I ran into Mervin at Murray Hill. He was
smiling and asked why I looked so gloomy, and took me into
Bown's office. I reminded him of the meeting and said, 'I got
mad about what you said about my boys and would have shot
you if I had had a gun.' "
Others were less disturbed by Kelly's temper. Estill Green
describes his experience as vice president in charge of systems
engineering in these mellow words:
"A few years in close association with Mervin were the hap-
,,
piest time of my life. For years on end I had believed I needed
insulation from the high voltage. Yet when I was directly ex-
posed to it, I never experienced a serious shock, and I rejoiced
to observe how the high potential overpowered inertia and loose
thinking and prejudice.
"I learned never to oppose him when he had the bit in his
teeth. Next morning I could remark casually, 'Mervin, there
are some aspects of that matter discussed in yesterday's confer-
ence that you may not be fully aware of.' He would listen, and
generally modify his position, to a minor or sometimes major
extent.
1
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194
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
This willingness to rectify an error was a quality particu-
larly valuable in one so quick and positive as Kelly. Kelly
thought he could judge a man after a few moments of conver-
sation. Though he hacI a high batting average, sometimes he
was mistaken. He made very confident technical judgments and
they, too, could be wrong. Yet, he was fair and honest and
always willing to admit a mistake.
Kelly was courageous in breaking with tradition, but very
determined in having his own way. It did not bother him to
break Bell Laboratories regulations. But when he laid down
the law, he expected to be heard and obeyed, whether it was a
matter of lax working hours of management or staff, the neat-
ness of premises, or the nature and direction of technical pro-
grams. While he would listen to advice, his judgments were his
own, not a consensus. When he addressed groups of Bell Labo-
ratories people, he often spoke with his eyes closed. Clearly, he
was looking inward for inspiration and not outward for accept
lance. On one occasion, an executive spoke somewhat contrary
to a pronouncement Kelly made. I said to the man sitting next
to me, "The moving finger writes, and having writ...." I
was correct; the executive was not demolished, he was merely
disregarded.
Yet, Kelly was universally respected and admired by the
most competent and touchy men who worked under him. They
received an interested and fair hearing, and he remembered
what they told him. His memory was indeed phenomenal.
After someone had shown and explained his work, Kelly would
remember everything a year later.
Kelly worked harder than he felt others should. As Kappel
said, "When Mervin was an advocate for something, there was
no shortchanging of his energy to get the job done." More than
once, Kelly drove himself to the point of exhaustion.
In the end, Kelly judged people and programs by real ac-
complishment. His integrity was absolute. I believe that he
OCR for page 195
MERVIN JOE KELLY
]95
never thought in any terms other than what was right and what
was Just.
Kelly's greatest accomplishments lay in the Bell Labora-
tories. He valued talent sincerely, as his warm biographical
sketch of C. I. Davisson shows. He wanted, found, appreciated,
and encouraged the sort of men who invented the transistor.
William Shockley has said, "Kelly's stimulus to look for new
devices useful in the telephone business, plus exposure to new
theories about rectification mechanisms in copper oxide, led
me to invent a structure that would have worked as a transistor."
When the transistor had been invented, Kelly recognized its
worth. As a foreign member of the Swedish Academy of Sci-
ences, he pressed for the award of the Nobel Prize to Bardeen,
Brattain, and Shockley. And, for years at Bell Laboratories
nothing was any good unless it was "new art" (solid state).
Kelly fostered or launched ambitious programs in nation-
wide dialing, in automation of maintenance and testing, in
microwave communication, in coaxial cable transmission, in
transoceanic cables, and in electronic switching. All were
timely, and, in the end, all were successful.
In 1943 Kelly outlined a branch-laboratory concept. This
eventually led to the establishment of laboratories for final
development at manufacturing locations of Western Electric.
This proved important in several ways. It linked final develop-
ment and its procedures and personnel closely to those respon-
sible for the manufacture of new devices and systems. It pre-
vented too large a concentration of personnel in a few central
locations. It gave a desirable measure of responsibility and
independence to work in various well-defined fields of devel-
opment.
Kelly valued training as well as talent. When he found,
after World War II, that university instruction in engineering
was not fresh and deep enough for the graduates to cope with
current communications problems, he inaugurated in 1948,
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196
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
within Bell Laboratories, a Communications Development
Training Program (known as C.D.T., and as "Kelly Colleges.
C.D.T. emphasized, as he said, "increasing depth in the physics,
chemistry, and mathematics essential to modern technology,
with advanced courses in communications and electronic tech-
nology." The courses were taught partly by university faculty
members.
Yet, Kelly looked toward universities as the normal channels
of education. He wrote:
"While it is probably always worthwhile for a laboratory
to give some orientation courses to new members of technical
staff, I believe that much of the training of our graduate course
would have greater value if done at the university in academic
surroundings. The problem of deeper and more basic training
for the young engineers who wish a career in creative technology
is a problem of importance to national strength. It needs a
more positive attack."
and also:
"We must all keep in mind though that the first and most
important responsibility of the universities is the training of
scientists and engineers in adequate volume to meet our coun-
try's needs."
In furtherance of these beliefs, Kelly arranged for Bell
Laboratories-supported fellowships in physics, electronics, and
communication to be established at a number of universities.
In 1957 C.D.T. was changed in this direction when New
York University opened a graduate center at Bell Laboratories.
As engineering education caught up with the postwar world,
emphasis changed to oncampus training, including doctoral
programs, and to specialized communication courses given
within Bell Laboratories.
While the Bell Laboratories' work in common carrier com-
munication was closest to Kelly's heart, he recognized the coun-
try's need for advanced military systems. It was his influence
OCR for page 197
MERVIN JOE KELLY
197
and driving force that made Bell Laboratories so active and
productive in radar during the war and later in antisubmarine
warfare and antiaircraft and antimissile missiles. Yet, Kelly
was no militarist. In 1954 he wrote, "It is a tragedy of our
times that our nation's primary concern is with security." He
tried as best he could to help the nation meet what he saw
as a most urgent need, both in individual articles and speeches
and as a member of various defense advisory bodies. He was
chairman of the Subcommittee on Research Activities in the
Department of Defense and related Defense agencies that re-
ported to the Hoover Commission on organization of the Execu-
tive Branch in 1955.
Kelly also served on a number of committees advisory to the
Department of Commerce and in this connection played an
important part in frustrating the move to dismiss Allen Astin,
the Director of the Bureau of Standards, for the honest and
straightforward testing of a commercial battery additive that
showed the product to be ineffective. As Detlev Bronk, then
President of the National Academy of Sciences, tells the story:
" [In 1953] I heard of the impending dismissal of Allen Astin
by the Secretary of Commerce, Sinclair Weeks. I called Eisen-
hower, or perhaps Sherman Adams. Eisenhower asked me to
see Weeks. When I told him that I did not know the man, he
said, 'Don't worry, he'll know you by the time you get there.'
I then said to Eisenhower that because Mervin Kelly was a
member [of the Statutory Advisory Committee to the Bureau
of Standards], I should wish to have him accompany me. Eisen-
hower said, 'It is up to you to straighten out this job. I'm used
to having good staff work, and apparently I'm not getting it.'
"Mervin was superb with his usual very forceful manner,
arguing strongly for the integrity of the Bureau, and I insisting
that the National Academy would surely back Kelly and his
Advisory Committee in strong support of Astin. I recall
[Weeks] asking, 'What can I do?' We told him that there was
OCR for page 198
198
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
just one thing to do and that was to reappoint Astin. Weeks
objected that it would be political suicide. I recall saying, 'I am
no politician, but I don't think you are correct, Mr. Secretary.'
To which Mervin added, 'We all make so many mistakes, that
for a man in public office to make a mistake and admit it will,
I am sure, earn him good marks politically'." Weeks reap-
pointed Astin. Moreover, Kelly's conduct so impressed Weeks
that he appointed Kelly Chairman of the Department of Com-
merce's Statutory Visiting Committee, a post that he held for
some nine years.
According to Bronk and others, Kelly also played a leading
role in the location of the new Engineering Society's building
in New York, in providing a sensible procedure for deciding
where it should be, and in campaigning to raise millions of
dollars from industry to help build it. He also played an impor-
tant role as a trustee of the Atoms for Peace awards. Of this,
J. R. Killian says, "He took a very active part in the work of
the board, and his judgment was excellent and his policy views
broad." Kelly was also a Member and Life Member Emeritus
of the Corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
nolo'~y. Killian says, "I will always remember visiting a num-
ber of companies aloe`, with him and his persuasive and forceful
presentation of the need for corporate contributions in the
support of science and engineering and private education."
Kelly raised millions for MIT and for other causes.
Kelly's retirement from the Bell Laboratories in 1959
marked the end of an era, for his qualities were unique. One
of Kelly's friends and admirers put it thus:
"Why did I like Mervin? He was no fake, a real man, true
to himself. He drove himself for the betterment of the labs and
expected others to do likewise. He always listened and ob-
served what was said and had the technical know-how to assess
it and have it put to use.
OCR for page 199
MERVIN JOE KELLY
199
"Why did I feel that his successor should be different? No
one else could be like Mervin and get away with it. He was the
backbone and the strength that has made BTL what it is today."
After Kelly retired from Bell Laboratories, he acted as a con-
sultant to a number of companies, but chiefly to International
Business Machines Incorporated. In this capacity, his energy
and enthusiasm were no less than in his leadership of Bell
Laboratories, but he wisely realized that his role was that of
counsellor to the management, including Thomas Watson, {r.,
the chairman of the board, and not that of a boss. According
to E. R. Piore, vice president and chief scientist of IBM:
"He traveled to all technical locations in IBM that stretch
across this country north and south and east and west and which
are located in six countries in Europe. Once in the laboratory,
he would [as he used to do at Bell Laboratories] spend time
with the people at the bench, stimulating discussion and think-
ing, constantly evaluating the person and the program. Thus
he acquired possibly more than any other person, a judgment
of men, of programs, and the methods in use. This quality of
conversing with the man at the bench, making the man feel at
home with Kelly, in no way inhibited him with similar conver-
sations with men up the ladder, including Tom Watson, Jr.,
and the rest of the group that had oversight over the whole IBM
enterprise. Thus he would report to me alter nits trip ana
report to Tom Watson also. Mervin was not making a career
for himself in IBM. Thus he never fought for his convictions
but quietly gave his views—strong, moderate, or negative. This
is one reason why his influence was great whether talking to me
or to those above me. These conversations dealt with tech-
r. ~ .
nology, people and management.
"His evaluation and identification of people had a profound
effect on their careers. He was after the best technical people,
and recommended that they be placed in jobs of ever-increasing
OCR for page 200
200
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
responsibility. I would judge that this was his greatest accom-
plishment in IBM.
"There were areas of great technological deficiencies in our
laboratories. Mervin was most helpful in smelling them out
and articulating the need for correction. Without his presence
this would have taken longer."
Some remarks of G. R. Gunther-Mohr are illuminating:
"My first encounter with Dr. Kelly was at the annual re-
He sat there
smoking endlessly and often seemed asleep, yet it was clear he
was not from the incisive questions he would ask. He never,
however, gave the audience a real view of his thinking. We
search meetings [which Piore used to hold].
expected higher management was benefiting.
"He had the respect of a wide variety of people. I had the
opportunity to accompany him in a trip to Allentown. It was
impressive to see how no one talked down to him technically,
but took him on as a participant.
1
"I believe we all miss his presence greatly. I do, especially
since in the later years of his association with IBM, I got to
know him better. He never retired and was mentally alert even
when he had great difficulty in moving about. He was never
sentimental about anything, including himself, but clear eyed,
hard headed and positive."
Continually pressing for higher achievement, Kelly always
prized and promoted ability wherever he found it. Conversely,
he was uniformly impatient with mediocrity and almost ruth-
lessly intolerant of incompetence. His frequently awesome
aspect in business did not, however, carry over into private life.
He entertained frequently and was a genial and gracious
host. But it was among close friends of long standing that other
traits emerged, including an essential simplicity and boyishness
that scientists sometimes exhibit. He was an enthusiastic,
though not expert, bridge player. For one thing, a consuming
OCR for page 209
MERVIN JOE KELLY
209
ernment actions and attitudes was less clear than it is today.
The consequences to science of antitrust actions that sever
service from manufacture (in aircraft and airlines, for example),
that render successful companies insecure in their operations
and in cooperative relations with universities, and that prevent
cooperative research toward common needs, were not yet clear.
Further, in Kelly's time the attitude of government toward both
science and industry was on the whole friendly and cooperative.
Today, the attitude of government has, in many areas, become
at once hostile, highly demanding, and minutely dictatorial
through statutory and bureaucratic means.
Thus, Kelly may have overestimated the amount and quality
of research that could in the future be expected from industry,
and perhaps from the nation.
Some of Kelly's ideas concerning the organizational form
most suitable for "organized creative technology" have hazards
as well as power. The autonomy of research, the prerogatives of
systems engineering, and the separation of the management of
nontechnological functions from the technological management
depend for their success on inspired leadership.
When leadership is uninspired or inadequate, it is easy for
research to drift away from the overall purpose of an organiza-
tion. It is easy for the rest of the organization to disregard
research. It is easy for systems engineers to become stale and
to lose their feel for the actual state of research on one hand
and the current realities of development, manufacture, and
operation on the other. It is easy for a large staff organization
concerned with buildings, facilities, shops, libraries, and even
computer services to put organizational order and budgetary
neatness ahead of the real needs and problems of scientists and
engineers.
~ . ~~ , . . .
Above all, a technological organization must have the lead-
ership to see and pursue real opportunities and real needs. In
an address to a naval research conference, Kelly said:
"The first, and perhaps the most important, factor is the
OCR for page 210
210
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
program itself. What shall it contain? What can be discarded
at once, and what shall be eliminated after limited exploration?
How can comprehensive coverage with freedom from gaps be
assured? In an endeavor so broad in scope and requiring such
a highly functional organization for its operation, how can
unneeded duplication be prevented, and duplication that is
worthwhile, though usually small in volume, be providecl?"
Such overall planning and programming is possible only
when one point that Kelly made concerning the leadership or
management of research and technology is held to. Leaders or
managers must be technologically trained and technologically
competent. Only thus can decisions be based on insight and
understanding rather than on salesmanship and hearsay. And,
leadership is most effective when it is strong and decisive.
A man with Kelly's energy and insight could by his own
knowledge, perception, and authority avoid organizational pit-
falls and bridge organizational gaps, but it was no easy matter
even for him.
Mervin Kelly had a large and optimistic view of the place of
science and technology in man's world. He had a clear and
persuasive plan for its organization. The success of Bell Labora-
tories vindicated his ideas in a general way. But, the world is
complicated and changeable, and even the most experienced
and wisest man cannot catch it eternally in a few, clear, under-
standable words, or in a great many words, for that matter.
Kelly's words are wise and worthy of consideration, but they
are less than the man and what he accomplished.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Mervin Kelly's great-great-gran(lfather came from Northern
Ireland to Virginia. The family proceeded by way of Indiana
to Missouri, where Mervin's father, Joseph Fenimore Kelly,
went to teach school at the age of 17. There he met and married
Mervin's mother, Mary Etta Evans, whose Welsh parents were
Missouri farmers.
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MERVIN JOE KELLY
211
Mervin toe Kelly was born on February 14, 1894, at Prince-
ton, Missouri. His father was then principal of the high school
at the Mercer County seat. Shortly thereafter he bought a
hardware and farm implement business at Gallatin, Missouri.
There Mervin received his grade and high school education,
graduating as class valedictorian at the age of 16.
During his school years, Mervin worked at various odd jobs
during the summers. He kept the store books for his father
and had a newspaper delivery route. By the time he was 16,
he had saved just enough money for tuition at the Missouri
School of Mines and Metallurgy, at Rolla. His ambition was
to become a mining engineer, a career that would take him to
far-off places. "I was really pretty lucky to go to Rolla," he
once recalled. "In those days, not too many youngsters got to
go to college." To make ends meet, he took a job with the State
Geological Survey, which allowed him to sleep in a room over
its headquarters. Working nights and weekends, he managed
to earn $18 a month cataloging and numbering mineral
specimens.
Mervin was a brilliant student, particularly in chemistry
and physics. At the end of his sophomore year at Rolla, he was
appointed an assistant in chemistry, for tuition and $300 a
year. The next summer he worked in a Utah copper mine.
This changed his mind about metallurgy, and on returning to
Rolla he switched to a general science course. The heads of
the chemistry and mathematics departments volunteered to give
him special instruction. When he graduated from Rolla in 1914
with a B.S. degree and honors in science, Kelly decided that he
wanted "to make a life in academic research."
Kelly taught physics and studied mathematics at the Uni-
versity of Kentucky, receiving his master's degree in 1915. On
November 11 , 1 9 1 5, he married Katharine Milsted, a Rolla
girl. He once called her his "most candid critic."
The Kellys went to the University of Chicago and he re-
ceived his Ph.D. in 1918. While at Chicago he was an assistant
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212
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
to Professor Robert A. Millikan, and he participated in the
famous oil drop experiments for measuring the charge of the
electron. From his work with Millikan, he developed the con-
viction that it was necessary to undertake basic investigations
of nature in order to be able to manipulate nature in a practical
way.
When World War I came, Frank B. Jewett, who later be-
came the first president of Bell Laboratories, offered Kelly a
$2100 a year job as a research physicist in the Engineering
Department of the Western Electric Company. His initial work
was in providing practical vacuum tubes.
In 1925 the research and development work of Western
Electric was incorporated separately as Bell Telephone Labora-
tories. Kelly worked as a physicist until 1928, as director of
vacuum tube development from 1928 until 1934, and as devel-
opment director of transmission instruments and electronics
during 1939~1936.
In 1936 he was appointed director of research. He became
executive vice president in 1944 and president in 1951. On
January 1, 1959, he was named chairman of the board of direc-
tors. He retired from Bell Laboratories on March 1, 1959.
Kelly served on the board of directors of Bell Laboratories
from 1944 until his retirement and was a director of the Sandia
Corporation, a subsidiary of the Western Electric Company,
from 1952 through 1958. In addition, he was a director of the
Prudential Insurance Company of America, Bausch and Lomb
Optical Company, Tung-Sol Electric, Incorporated, and the
Economic Club of New York. He acted as a consultant to the
International Business Machines Corporation, Bausch and
Lomb, Ingersoll-Rand Company, and the Kennecott Copper
Corporation.
Mervin Joe Kelly died on March IS, 1971, at Port Saint
Lucie, Florida, where he had a second home, at the age of 77.
OCR for page 213
MERVIN J OF KELLY
213
THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS, through personal communications,
provided material for this biographical sketch: Richard M. Bozorth,
Harald T. Friis, Detlev W. Bronk, lames R. Killian, Emmanuel R.
Piore, G. R. Gunther-Mohr, and Estill I. Green. Other information
was obtained from Bell Laboratories; Harald T. Friis, Seventy-five
Years in an Exciting World, San Francisco Press; and William
Shockley, Bell Laboratories Record, Vol. 50, December 1972.
OCR for page 214
214
AWARDS
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
AWARDS, HONORS, MEMBERSHIPS
Presidential Certificate of Merit, 1947
Medal of the Industrial Research Institute, 1954
Christopher Columbus International Communication Prize, 1955
Air Force Exceptional Service Award, 1957
James Forrestal Memorial Medal, 1957
Air Force Association Trophy Award, 1958
John Fritz Medal, 1959
Mervin l. Kelly Award of the American Institute of Electrical Engi-
neers, initial award, 1960
The Golden Omega Award, 1960
The Hoover Medal, 1961
Centennial Medal of Honor, University of Missouri at Rolla, 1970
HONORARY DEGREES
University of Missouri, D.Eng., 1936
University of Kentucky, D.Sc., 1946
University of Pennsylvania, LL.D., 1954
New York University, D.Eng., 1955
Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, D.Eng., 1955
University of Lyons, Doctor Honoris Causa, 1957
Wayne State University, D.Eng., 1958
Case Institute of Technology, D.Sc., 1959
University of Pittsburgh, D.Sc., 1959
Princeton University, D.Eng., 1959
MEMBERSHIPS
National Academy of Sciences
American Philosophical Society
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Royal Academy of Sciences (Sweden)
American Physical Society (Fellow)
Acoustical Society of America (Fellow)
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (Fellow)
Sigma Xi
Eta Kappa Nu
Tau Beta Pi
Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences
University Club of New York
Baltusrol Golf Club of Springfield, N. J.
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MERVIN JOE KELLY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
KEY T O ~BBREVIA TIONS
Bell Lab. Rec. _ Bell Laboratories Record
Bell Syst. Monogr. Bell System Monograph
Bell Syst. Tech. i.—Bell System Technical Journal
Bell Teleph. Mag. Bell Telephone Magazine
Electr. Eng.—Electrical Engineering
I. Franklin Inst. _ Journal of the Franklin Institute
Phys. Rev. Physical Review
Phys. Today Physics Today
Proc. I.R.E. Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers
1919
With R. A. Millikan and V. H. Gottschalk.
215
Effect upon the atom
of the passage of an alpha ray through it. Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, 5:591-92.
1920
With R. A. Millikan and V. H. Gottschalk. Nature of the process
of ionization of gases by alpha rays. Phys. Rev., 5: 157-77.
The valency of photo-electrons and the photo-electric properties of
some insulators. Phys. Rev., 15:260-73; also in I. Franklin Inst.,
190:916-17.
Manufacture of vacuum tubes.
1926
Bell Lab. Rec., 2~4~: 137-44.
1932
Vacuum tubes and photoelectric tube developments for sound pic-
ture systems. Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engi-
neers, 18:761-81; also in Motion Picture Projectionist, 5: 15-20;
Bell Syst. Monogr. B-694; Eastman Kodak Monthly Abstract
Bulletin, 19:255~1933~; Wireless Engineer, 10:571~1933~.
With C. H. Prescott, in The caesium~xygen-silver photoelectric
cell. Bell Syst. Tech. l., 11:334-67; also in Transactions of the
Electrochemical Society, 62:297-322; Bell Syst. Monogr. B-681;
Bell Lab. Rec., 12:34-39~1933~; Radio Revisita, 18:443-4541933~;
International Projectionist, 6:27~1933~.
1934
With A. L. Samuel.
Vacuum tubes as high frequency oscillators.
OCR for page 216
216
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
Electr. Eng., 53:1504-17; also in Bell Syst. Tech. J., 14:97-134
(1935~; Bell Syst. Monogr. B-839~1935~.
1943
The American engineer. The Bridge of Eta Kappa Nu, September;
also in Bell Lab. Rec., November, p. 122(A).
1945
Science as a force in our civilization, past, present, and future.
(Talk presented before Science Club) Kearnygram, 18:1-2. (A)
Discussion on the future of industrial research. In: The Future of
Industrial Research. New York, Standard Oil Development Co.
Radar and Bell Laboratories. Bell Teleph. Mag., 24:221-55.
1947
Our country's preparedness research and development program a
cooperative undertaking of our military, university and indus-
trial laboratories. (Address given at Navy Research Conference,
Wash., D.C., November 18-19) Published in pamphlet form.
1949
Radar Systems and Components; with an Introduction by M. .7.
Kelly, pp. 1-8. New York, D. Van Nostrand Co. 1042 pp.
1950
Bell Telephone Laboratories an example of an institute of cre-
ative technology. Proceedings of the Royal Society (London),
Series A, 203: 287-301; also Bell Syst. Monogr. 1794.
1951
Educational patterns in U.S. and England. Journal of Engineering
Education, 4 1: 358-6 1; also Bell Syst. Monogr. 1 836.
Education requirements for development engineers in electronic
and communication technology. (Paper presented at Institute of
Radio Engineers Convention, New York City, March 19-22)
Proc. I.R.E., 39:299. (A)
The Institutes for Basic Research their contribution to national
strength. (Address at the dedication of the Institutes for Basic
Research, The University of Chicago, May 16) Published as a
pamphlet entitled "Applied Research is Not Enough."
OCR for page 217
MERVIN JOE KELLY
217
Dr. C. J. Davisson. Bell Syst. Tech. J., 30(Part 1):779-85; also Bell
Syst. Monogr. B-1876.
1952
Communications and electronics. Elecr. Eng., 71:965-69; also Bell
Syst. Monogr. 2026.
1953
First five years of the transistor. Bell Teleph. Mag., 32~2~:73-86;
also Bell Syst. Monogr. 2130.
Research and development problems of engineering management in
the electronics industry. (Paper presented at Institute of Radio
Engineers Convention, New York City, March 23-26) Proc.
I.R.E., 41:425; also Bell Syst. Monogr. 2070 (A).
Air defense: Kelly vs. "summer study" group. Fortune, 48:40. (A)
Kelly committee report, a summary. Phys. Today, 6:4-11.
The contribution of industrial research to national security. (Pre-
sented at American Association for the Advancement of Science,
Boston, Mass., December 29) Bell Syst. Monogr. 2181; also pub-
lished in pamphlet form.
1954
Russian threat and our attitude toward it. New Jersey Bell, 27:
10-13.
\/Vith A. T. Waterman and l. C. Ward, [r.
national security.
Scientific Monthly, 78:2 1 4-24.
Scientific research and
The interactions of applied science and technology for the civilian
economy and for national security- a case study. (Eighth
annual address in the Charles M. Schwab Memorial Lectureship,
delivered in New York City, May 26, 1954, at the 62nd General
Meeting of the American Iron and Steel Institute) Published in
pamphlet form.
1955
As told to D. Robinson. Should your child be an electronic engi-
neer? Prepared originally as an advertisement for New York
Life Insurance Co. Reprinted in pamphlet form.
With Sir G. Radley, G. W. Gilman, and R. i. Halsey. A trans-
atlantic telephone cable. Communication and Electronics, 17:
124-36; alsoinElectr.Eng., 74:192-97; 13ellSyst. Monogr. 2434.
OCR for page 218
218
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
Aiding academic programs in fields of science.
34: 19~99.
Bell Teleph. Mag.,
With others. Subcommittee report on research activities in the
Department of Defense and defense related agencies. Prepared
for the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of
the Government. Published in pamphlet form.
Training programs of industry for graduate engineers. Electr. Eng.,
74:866-69; also Bell Syst. Monogr. 2512.
1956
Research and development. Engineers Joint Council, Proceedings
of the Second General Assembly, Panel on the Hoover Com-
mission Reports a Review of the Engineering Aspects, p. 52.
A scientist's look at our developing military strength. (Address
given at the Cleveland Council on World Affairs, February 8)
Indiana Bell Highlights, August 20, pp. 4-6. Reprinted in pam-
phlet form.
Contributions of research to telephony look at past and glance
into future. i. Franklin Inst., 261: 189-200; also Bell Syst.
Monogr. 2590. Reprinted in pamphlet form.
Record of profitable research at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Proceedings of the National Industrial Research Conference,
July, pp. 3-11; also Bell Syst. Monogr. 2663.
Our developing military strength a scientist's view. Signal, Sew
tember-October, pp. 26, 28-29, 77.
Advances in communications. Age of Science Magazine, Yale
University, December, p. 106.
1957
With Sir G. Radley. Transatlantic communications an historical
resume. Bell Syst. Tech. J., 36: 1-~; also Bell Syst. Monogr.
2710.
The work and environment of the physicist yesterday, today, and
tomorrow. Phys. Today, 10:26-31. Also published in pamphlet
form.
Factors promoting productivity in research and development at Bell
Telephone Laboratories. (Address presented at the National
Meeting of the American Chemical Society, September 13) Re-
printed in pamphlet form.
Girding for the nuclear age. In: Brainpower Quest, ed. by A. A.
Freeman. New York, Macmillan Inc. 242 pp.
OCR for page 219
MERVIN J OE KELLY
219
The trends of telecommunications as affected by solid state elec-
tronics instrumentation. (Address given at Symposium on Ra-
dio Links, Rome, June 5) Published in symposium proceedings.
The nation's research and development their deficiencies and
means for correction. Proceedings of the American Philosophi-
cal Society, 1 0 144) : 386-9 1.
Our woeful lag in basic research. Part I. New York Herald Trib-
une, October 25. Part II. New York Herald Tribune, October
27.
The nation's need for greater scientific and technical strength-
means for its attainment. Institute of Radio Engineers, Trans-
actions of the Professional Group on Engineering Management,
M-4(,4'': 122-27.
1958
The transistor ten years of progress. Bell Lab. Rec., 36:190-91.
Career of H. S. Black, 1957 Lamme Medalist. Electr. Eng., August.
The first decade of the transistor. Bell Teleph. Mag., 37~2~:24-38.
Some essentials for national strength. (Address before the National
Security Industrial Association's 1958 James Forrestal Memorial
Award Dinner) Published in 1959 in pamphlet form.
1959
Development of the nation's scientific and technical potential.
(Presented at John Fritz Medal Award ceremony, American
Institute of Electrical Engineers Winter General Meeting, Feb-
ruary) Electr. Eng., April.
Basic research. An unpublished document. Appears to have been
intended as a chapter in a handbook on the management of
industrial research.
1961
Response of the medalist. (Address presented at M. l. Kelly Medal
Award ceremony, American Institute of Electrical Engineers
Winter General Meeting, February) Electr. Eng., April.
lg62
The role of the engineer in a world of change. (Technical paper
presented at the Design Engineering Conference and Show, Chi-
cago, Ill., April 30-May 3) Design News, June 27. (A)
Representative terms from entire chapter:
bell syst
