Irwin M. Jacobs
Irwin Mark Jacobs is an American electrical engineer, a co-founder and former chairman of Qualcomm, and chair of the board of trustees of the Salk Institute.
Early life and education
Jacobs was born to a Jewish family in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He earned his Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Cornell University in 1956, and his Master of Science and Doctor of Science degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1957 and 1959, respectively. His doctoral advisor was Edward Arthurs. Additionally, he is a brother of Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity.Career
Jacobs was assistant and associate professor of electrical engineering at MIT from 1959 to 1966 and professor of computer science and engineering at University of California San Diego from 1966 to 1972. With John Wozencraft, he co-authored a textbook entitled Principles of Communication Engineering in 1965, which is still in use today. UCSD's Jacobs School of Engineering is named for him and his wife.In 1968, Jacobs co-founded Linkabit Corporation with Andrew Viterbi to develop satellite encryption devices. That company merged with M/A-COM, Inc. in 1980, becoming M/A-COM Linkabit.
In 1985, Jacobs went on to co-found Qualcomm Inc. along with Andrew Viterbi, Harvey White, Adelia Coffman, Andrew Cohen, Klein Gilhousen, and Franklin Antonio. QUALCOMM developed the OmniTRACS system was deemed one of the world's most "technologically advanced two-way mobile satellite communications and tracking systems". He pioneered these systems which use the communication bandwidth more efficiently than the older fixed time-sliced TDMA technology. Its Code Division Multiple Access has been adopted as one of two digital standards used in the next generation of cellular telephones in North America at the time. Jacobs announced on March 3, 2009, that he had stepped down as chairman of Qualcomm and that Paul E. Jacobs, his son, had been named to succeed him.
Affiliations
Jacobs is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the IEEE. He is also a member of the Inter-American Dialogue. He is a chairman on the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and is on the international advisory board for the Israel Institute of Technology. Additionally, he serves on the advisory board for the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He is also active on the board of directors of the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles.Awards and honors
In 1980, Jacobs was the co-recipient, with Andrew J. Viterbi, the 1980 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics biannual award. In 1992, Jacobs was awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year Award in High Technology by the Institute of American Entrepreneurs, and in May 1993, he was awarded the American Electronics Association "Inventing America's Future" award.In 1994, for his development of CDMA, Jacobs was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.
In 1994, he was also awarded the "Cornell University Entrepreneur of the Year" Award.
In 1995, Jacobs won the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal – For outstanding contributions to telecommunications, including leadership, theory, practice and product development.
In 2001, Jacobs was awarded the Bower Award for Business Leadership in 2001.
In 2004, Jacobs and his wife Joan Jacobs are contributors to public arts and education in San Diego. For this, Jacobs was awarded the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship in 2004.
In 2005, Jacobs delivered the 2005 commencement speech at MIT, and the 2008 commencement speech at the Jacobs School of Engineering.
In 2007, Jacobs and Andrew J. Viterbi received the 2007 IEEE/RSE Wolfson James Clerk Maxwell Award, for "fundamental contributions, innovation, and leadership that enabled the growth of wireless telecommunications".
In 2009, he was named a Fellow of AAAS.
In 2011, he received the Marconi Prize together with Jack Wolf.
In 2011, he was named a .
In 2011, Branson was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.
In 2012, Jacobs was named the W. P. Carey School of Business Dean's Council of 100 Executive of the Year, which honors change-making business leaders who serve as models for today's business students.
In 2013, Jacobs was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
In 2013, he received the Medal of Honor from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, which is the highest honor an engineer can receive from his or her peers. The IEEE said he was receiving the award not just for his innovations but for "the ability to translate innovation into industry applications, time after time after time."
In November 2013, he was conferred the title of "Distinguished Honor Chair Professor" of National Tsing Hua University, TAIWAN.
On August 19, 2014, Jacobs was conferred the "Honorary Doctor of Engineering Degree" from National Tsing Hua University, TAIWAN.
On October 25, 2014, Jacobs was conferred the "Honorary Doctor of Engineering Degree" from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, CHINA.
In 2014, Jacobs was elected to the Computer History Museum as a Fellow – for "his pioneering work in digital mobile telephony, data and communications, and technology".
In 2015, Jacobs received the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, for having made a significant and lasting impact on a particular field, nation and/or the international community.
In 2017, Jacobs, along with Andrew Viterbi, received the IEEE Milestone Award for their CDMA and spread spectrum development that drives the mobile industry.
On February 1, 2018, he was appointed as an Honorary Advisor to the President of National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan.
In March 2018, he was named the winner of IMEC Lifetime of Innovation Award
In July 2019, he was conferred "Honorary Doctorate Degree" by the University of York, UK.
In October 2019, he received the IET Mountbatten Medal in London, UK.
Philanthropy
As the co-founder and chairman of Qualcomm, Jacobs has contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to the field of education through generous donations and grants to several schools and organizations. His donations have gone mostly towards fellowships and scholarships for deserving students in the fields of engineering and computer science, as well as the arts, and are focused in the San Diego area. The San Diego Union Tribune in 2011 dubbed him the "Philanthropist in Chief".As of September 2009, Jacobs had donated a total of $31 million to his post graduate degrees school, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He had donated $15 million and another $110 million to the University of California San Diego where he was a professor of computer science and engineering for several years. Additionally, he has donated $62 million total to the American Society for Technion, his alma mater Cornell University, KPBS Radio and Television, and San Diego Natural History Museum. His KPBS donation was in the sum of $1 million, and the multi-year gift is designed to strengthen the station's local journalism and news collaboration with NPR. The Jacobs have donated funds to build studios for KPBS and have supported the station for decades. In 2010, he funded an engineering study on how to fulfill a long-planned proposal to remove automobiles from the Plaza de Panama in San Diego's Balboa Park and agreed to chair a committee to study the proposal and develop private funding for it.
Jacobs has pledged $120 million for the San Diego Symphony, a similar amount for the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California San Diego, $100 million for UCSD's future specialty hospital and $20 million to replace the central library in downtown San Diego. Also in 2005, the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for La Jolla Playhouse was named after Jacobs and his wife in honor of their philanthropic contributions towards the institution's development.
In April 2013, the Jacobs donated $133 million to the joint Cornell/Technion Technology campus development on Roosevelt Island in New York City.
The Joan and Irwin Jacobs TIX Institute, located at National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, was sponsored by Dr. Jacobs with the mission of encouraging innovations and entrepreneurship.