Henryk W. Magnuski | |
|---|---|
 Magnuski in 1959 | |
| Born | January 30, 1909 |
| Died | May 4, 1978 (aged 69) |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Alma mater | Warsaw University of Technology |
| Occupation(s) | telecommunications engineer, inventor |
| Known for | walkie-talkie |
| Relatives | Hank Magnuski (son) |
Henryk Władysław Magnuski (January 30, 1909 – May 4, 1978) was a Polish telecommunications engineer who worked for Motorola in Chicago. He was a primary contributor in the development of one of the first Walkie-Talkie radios, the Motorola SCR-300, and influenced the company's success in the field of radio communication.[1][2][3][4]
Magnuski was born on January 30, 1909, in Warsaw. Having lost both parents at a relatively early age, he supported himself and his sister, Janina, by fixing and installing radios for the Polish military. He received his degree from Warsaw University of Technology in 1934 and started working for the State Tele- and Radiotechnical Works (Państwowe Zakłady Tele i Radiotechniczne) in Warsaw.[1]
In June 1939 he was sent by his company to New York in order to study the latest American projects of radio transmitters. Soon after his arrival to the United States, Poland was invaded by Germany and World War II broke out. His return home became impossible.
In 1940 he started working for the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation in Chicago (the company changed the name in 1947 to Motorola) and assigned to a team that developed the SCR-300, the first radio used by American forces in Europe to be called a "Walkie-Talkie".[5] As principal RF engineer on the project and named on three patents for the device, Magnuski is sometimes credited as having "invented the Walkie-Talkie in America".[6][4][1] He later received a U. S. Navy Certificate of Commendation for Outstanding Service for development of the AN/CPN-6 Radar Beacon, a microwave device which aided carrier pilots to find their ship during low visibility conditions.[1]
After the war he did not return to the communist People's Republic of Poland and stayed in the USA. He helped in the development of VHF cavity resonators that allowed adjacent channel operation, was a key designer for the Motorola Sensicon receiver which used a selective filter in front of the IF amplifier and created microwave relay equipment for use in transmitting multi-channel telephone, data and TV. In Motorola's Government Electronics Division he developed the SSB Radio Central Concept AN/USC-3, Motorola’s RADEM system (RADAS), the Deltaplex I digital troposcatter system and lightweight tropo equipment AN/TRC-105.[1]
At retirement after 30 years of cooperation with the company, he was the Associate Director of Research for Motorola's Government Electronics Division, had 30 patents related to VHF and microwave communications, was an IEEE Fellow and author of numerous technical papers and a chapter in the "Communication System Engineering Handbook".
He succumbed to cancer at his home in Glenview, Illinois on May 4, 1978.
The Henry Magnuski Electrical and Computer Engineering professorship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is named in his honor.[7]
On October 6, 2006, Henryk Magnuski was one of the first five inductees into the Illinois Engineering Hall of Fame.[8]
Polish TVP aired a documentary on the life of Henryk Magnuski on January 27, 2021. It was the first in a series of documentaries on famous Polish scientists and inventors.[9]
Magnuski's son is Hank Magnuski, pioneer of PC-to-fax technology.[10]
