Skip to main content

Memorial Tributes Volume 23 (2021) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

JAMES J. SPILKER JR.
Pages 298-303

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 299...
... SPILKER JR. 1933–2019 Elected in 1998 "For spread spectrum technology, communications theory, and the global positioning systems." BY ANDREW MYERS SUBMITTED BY THE NAE HOME SECRETARY JAMES JULIUS SPILKER JR., a central figure in the technical development of the Global Positioning System (GPS)
Read the entire page →
From page 300...
... He then joined Ford Aerospace to help build a multisatellite communications system for the military. In 1973 he and two Ford colleagues cofounded Stanford Telecommunications, Inc., building the company from 3 employees to 1300 by the time it was acquired for some $500 million in 1999 -- all, Spilker proudly noted, without the aid of a single dollar of venture capital.
Read the entire page →
From page 301...
... In 2012 he and his wife, Anna Marie, a real estate broker and investor, made a gift of $28 million to name the James and Anna Marie Spilker Engineering and Applied Sciences Building and to establish a permanent professorship in the Stanford School of Engineering. Spilker was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the Air Force GPS Hall of Fame, and the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame, and was a life fellow of the IEEE and a fellow of the Institute of Navigation.
Read the entire page →
From page 302...
... He was always a very positive and creative contributor to the world of position, navigation, and timing. We will miss him, but hold him as a wonderful example of engineering and of Stanford graduates." In his spare time Spilker was something of a fitness enthusiast, and won awards in bodybuilding and sprinting in his 50s and 60s.
Read the entire page →

Key Terms

  • stanford school
  • global positioning
  • nae home
  • cofounded stanford
  • technical development

  • time spilker
  • research labs
  • lite navigation
  • joined parkinson
  • german shepherd

  • spilker proudly
  • engineering hall
  • main market
  • ford colleagues
  • technical talents

  • stanford telecommunications
  • richard schwartz
  • signal timing
  • joined ford
  • andrew myers

  • prestigious engineering
  • spilker donated
  • spare time
  • engineering accolades
  • hall information

  • timing technologies
  • textbook digital
  • died september
  • theory series
  • cited mother


    • This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
    More information on Chapter Skim is available.