Oral-History:Joseph Fischer
About Joseph Fischer
Joseph Fischer was born in Lakehurst, New Jersey, ‘home of the dirigibles,’ where his father was a lighter-than-air sailor. After moving around quite a bit in his younger years, his family finally settled in San Diego. Fischer attended San Diego State, where he got his degree in physics, after which he worked at the Navy Electronics Lab in antenna design, and also went back to San Diego State to earn his masters in physics. After the Lab, Fischer went to Convair in 1952, moving on to Genestron in 1961, Litton from 1970-77, and he also mentions his time at Xerox and the formation of his own company, Fischer Custom Communications. He talks about his involvement in various projects such as the Atlas missile, Gemini, Apollo and the DD-963, as well as his participation in the IEEE EMC Society, serving as its president in the 1970s, and his work on antennas, radio interference, current sensors and filter design.
Much of the interview discusses the evolving nature of the EMC field and the Society’s role in the IEEE. Fischer also underlines the importance of bringing in EMC experts early in the designing process – for both military and civilian projects – in order to be more economical. He discusses the significance of returning to the basic fundamentals of physics in order to understand a problem more thoroughly, and the importance of education.
About the Interview
An Interview Conducted by: John Vardalas, IEEE History Center, 12 May 2005
Interview #451for the IEEE History Center, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Copyright Statement
This manuscript is being made available for research purposes only. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the IEEE History Center. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the Director of IEEE History Center.
Request for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to the IEEE History Center Oral History Program, Rutgers - the State University, 39 Union Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8538 USA. It should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the passages, and identification of the user.
It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows:
Joseph Fischer, an oral history conducted in 2005 by John Vardalas, IEEE History Center, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
Interview
Interview: Joseph Fischer
Interviewer: John Vardalas
Date: 12 May 2005
Place: Fischer Custom Communications, Torrance, CA
