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ECM 99 01 04 Lafferty

Jim Lafferty, a pioneering vacuum scientist, died at the age of 89 in 2006. He had a long career at General Electric researching topics like electron guns and vacuum switches. Lafferty made significant contributions to the fields of vacuum science and technology through his work editing several seminal textbooks, serving in leadership roles in professional societies like AVS and IUVSTA, and conducting outreach later in life. He is remembered for fundamentally restructuring IUVSTA to put it on stable financial footing and for his lifelong dedication to advancing the field of vacuum science through research, writing, and professional service.

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72 views2 pages

ECM 99 01 04 Lafferty

Jim Lafferty, a pioneering vacuum scientist, died at the age of 89 in 2006. He had a long career at General Electric researching topics like electron guns and vacuum switches. Lafferty made significant contributions to the fields of vacuum science and technology through his work editing several seminal textbooks, serving in leadership roles in professional societies like AVS and IUVSTA, and conducting outreach later in life. He is remembered for fundamentally restructuring IUVSTA to put it on stable financial footing and for his lifelong dedication to advancing the field of vacuum science through research, writing, and professional service.

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George Acosta
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© © All Rights Reserved
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ECM-99-01-04 ECM-99-01-04

James Martin Lafferty


An obituary compiled by John L. Robins
It was with great sadness that we learned of the death of James Martin Lafferty, or Jim
Lafferty as he was more commonly known. Jim died on Sunday, 26 March 2006 and will
be missed by friends and colleagues throughout the world, particularly those who knew
him through his place of employment, the General Electric Company (GE), and his active
contributions to the American Vacuum Society (AVS) and the International Union for
Vacuum Science, Technique and Applications (IUVSTA).
Dr Lafferty was born in the USA at Battle Creek, Michigan, on 27 April 1916. He
married Eleanor Currie in 1942 and they had four sons, Martin, Ronald (deceased),
Douglas and Lawrence. He obtained his academic qualifications at the University of
Michigan: a B.S. degree in Engineering Physics in 1939, an M.S. in Physics in 1940 and
a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 1946.
After spending one year as a physicist with the Eastman Kodak Research Laboratories in
Rochester, NY, in 1939, he joined the General Electric Research Laboratories in 1940
and remained with them until his retirement in 1981, except for a brief period in 1940/41
when he worked on Proximity Fuse Research at the Carnegie Institution in Washington.
During his service to GE, he was manager of many different Laboratories concluding
with the Power Electronics Laboratory of the Research Development Centre. His research
included electrometer and microwave tubes, electron guns, television picture tubes, gas
discharge tubes, vacuum switches and electronic vehicles, in addition to his invention of
the lanthanum boride cathode in 1950, the hot cathode magnetron ionization gauge in
1961 and triggered vacuum gap in 1966.
Dr Lafferty will be remembered as the editor and contributing author of “The Scientific
Foundations of Vacuum Technique” (Dushman) in 1962, editor of “Vacuum Arcs,
Theory and Applications” in 1980 and editor of “Foundations of Vacuum Science and
Technology” in 1998. He also wrote many scientific and technical articles and served on
editorial boards of a number of journals. He was the Lamme Medalist of the IEEE in
1979.
Although being associated with numerous professional societies (Member of the National
Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the AAAS, Fellow of the American Physical
Society, Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) his greatest
service was possibly to the American Vacuum Society. These activities will no doubt be
detailed elsewhere, so suffice it to note here that he was made an Honorary Life Member
following his participation in many capacities including membership of the Board of
Directors 1962-70, Clerk 1965-67 and President 1968-69.
Dr Lafferty’s association with the IUVSTA spanned many years with formal
participation as Councillor for the USA 1971-77, President Elect 1977-80, President
1980-83 and Past President 1983-86. During his presidency, Dr Lafferty introduced
major changes to the structure and administration of the IUVSTA, which were to have
beneficial and long-lasting effects. By 1980 the IUVSTA was experiencing financial
difficulties and could no longer afford to maintain a professional secretariat. In his
restructure, Jim Lafferty, in effect, made the Executive Council and the Committees and
Divisions each self-sustaining. That is, they each became responsible for handling their
own correspondence, setting their own agenda, and recording and distributing their own
minutes. In addition, the triennial budgets were
ECM99-01-04 ECM99-01-04

drawn up in such a way that the essential expenses of the Union were limited so as not to
exceed the subscriptions paid by the national societies, thus ensuring that donations, such as
those which might result from conference exhibitions, could be used to build up the Union’s
reserve funds to a state where income from the reserves would replace reliance upon
donations, for the funding of scientific, technical and educational activities. The use of
Divisions to focus and expand the scientific activities of the union was also extended
significantly during his term as President.
In his retirement Dr Lafferty produced an audio/visual archive for the AVS by conducting
video-recorded interviews with people who had made significant contributions in the field of
vacuum. In 1986, he wrote a History of the IUVSTA, with an appendix containing brief
descriptions of the history and structure of the 22 National Vacuum Societies which then
constituted the Union. He was also active within the People to People Citizens Ambassador
Program, by organizing and leading Vacuum Science and Technique Delegations to Europe
1984, China 1986 and Australia 1988.
Jim Lafferty died just a month short of his 90th birthday after a life in which he contributed
much to research into the science of vacuum and to the application of that knowledge in
technological developments. He leaves behind very many colleagues who have benefited, both
directly and indirectly, from his friendship, advice, wisdom and guidance.
John L. Robins

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