Robert Colburn

Robert Colburn

Robert Colburn is research coordinator at the IEEE History Center. Visit the IEEE History Center’s Web page. For more articles by History Center staff, visit their publications page or visit the IEEE History Center’s Web page. The IEEE History Center is partially funded by donations to the History Fund of the IEEE Foundation.

History Column

Robert Colburn4 August 2021
267

Why Mobile Phones Can Do So Many Things: The Invention of The Fractal Antenna

Today’s mobile phones and countless other technologies owe their sleek design in part to antennas whose shapes are determined by…
History Column

Robert Colburn15 July 2019
60

A Master Class in Ingenuity

On the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, IEEE Members share their memories of creating the technologies used in space.
History Column

Robert Colburn14 December 2016
69

Your Engineering Heritage: Many Electrical Engineering Terms Are Older Than You Might Think

Electrical and computer engineering may be relatively young disciplines, but much of the terminology they use stretches back millennia.
History Column

Robert Colburn20 June 2016
60

The Tesla Almost Nobody’s Heard Of: Frank Fowle and Alternating Current Transposition

Frank Fuller Fowle, a pioneer of long-distance transmission of electric power and of telephone communications, devised a general system of…