Index

Note: ECD = Energy Conversion Devices; ECL = Energy Conversion Laboratories; SO = Stanley Ovshinsky

 

• Active-matrix liquid crystal displays (LCDs), 210, 344n3

• Adcock, Willis, 89
• Adler, David (Dave)
  • communication skills, 155
  • consulting work for ECD, 155–156
  • friendship with SO, 155–156
  • model for the Ovshinsky effect, 134–135
  • on research on amorphous and disordered materials, 127
• Adominis, Al, 138
• Adrenalin, psychoses-like effects, 315n32
• Advanced Research Group, ECD, 178
• Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), 130
• Advanced Technology Program (ATP), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), 199
• Agnew Machine Company, Milford, Michigan, General Automation work, 71
  • antisemitism in hiring, 32–33
  • early years in, 3, 22–24
  • efforts to move ECD hydrogen program to, 206–208
  • father’s settling in, 17–18
  • Goodyear Airdock, 45
  • immigrant population, 15
  • impact of the Depression in, 26
  • Iris’s burial in, 247
  • Munitz family move to, 19
  • SO’s burial in, 279
  • SO’s family return to, 42–43
• Akron Central Industrial Union Council, 30
• Akron Standard Mold
  • first job at, 29–32, 226
  • ongoing work for, 47, 49
• Alcoholics Anonymous, funding for ECL from members of, 99
• Alda, Alan, 203
• Alkaline fuel cells project, 200
• Allen, Charles, 87, 317n46
• Allen, Robert (Bob)
  • Ovitron lawsuit, 91, 99
  • Ovitron partnership, 86–86, 89–90
• Alphasil, 344n4
• Alternative energy, affordable technology, 10, 97–98, 193, 294–295, 318n7, 319n12. See also Thin-film solar panels
• American Natural Resources Company (ANR), 192, 211, 336n1, 341n16
• Amorphous and disordered materials. See also the Ovitron; Ovonic thin-film amorphous threshold switch
  • attributes, 321n29
  • capacity for hydrogen storage, 188
  • chalcogenide alloys, 110, 141, 304n4
  • comparison with crystalline materials, 108–109
  • and development of flat panel displays, 4–5
  • as “dirt materials
  • and ECD’s NiMH batteries, 190–191
  • electronic properties, explorations of, 3–4
  • growing body of research on, 127
  • hydrides as, 339n2
  • mobility edge, 327n23
  • recognition of potential of, 292–293
  • Sapru’s models of, 135–137
  • SO’s pathway to understanding, 2, 107–108
• Amorphous chalcogenide semiconductors
  • and cross-point switching, 346n27
  • growing body of research on, 326n19, 327n22
  • mechanisms of action, 108, 133–137, 330n43
  • New York Times article about, 124–126
  • scientific explanations, 124, 323–324nn54–55
  • SO’s interest in neural network applications for, 221
• Amorphous silicon solar panels. See also Hydrogenated amorphous silicon
  • ability to work despite damage, 338n35
  • contracts with SOHIO and Sharp to produce, 175
  • improvements to efficiency, 177–178
  • PVD method, 173, 336n4
  • roll-to-roll production approach, 171–173
  • Staebler-Wronski effect, 176
• Analogical thinking
  • in cognitive science, 305n13
  • linking of disordered materials and cosmology, 236–237
  • linking of tellurium and DNA, 110
  • neurophysiology studies, 56–57, 311n22
  • Pauling’s use of, 305n11
  • and the relationship of science and music, 234
  • role in innovation, 5–6, 294, 305n13
  • and SO’s view of threshold switch as electronic, 133–134
• Anarchism, 7–8, 75–77, 315n26
• Anderson, Philip, 327n23
• Annual Physical Society meeting dinners, 327n22
• ANR. See American Natural Resources Company
• Antimilitary views, 103, 320n22
• Antisemitism, 32, 94
• Antiunion violence, 8, 34–35
• Applied Physics Letters, paper on optical memory, 129
• Armstrong, Edwin, 306n16
• Artillery shell production, 71
• Assembly-line, psychological consequences, 65, 295
• Atlantic Richfield (ARCO)
  • allocations for hydrogen research, 187
  • ARCO Solar, 143–144, 171–172, 174–175, 345n10
  • final settlement with, 337n12
  • support for alternative energy development, 143–144, 332n69, 337n11
• Atomic bomb/hydrogen bomb, 47, 154
• Automatic tractor, 61–63, 71, 314n15
• Automatic transmissions, 68
• Automation
  • and closed loop systems, 312n33
  • early focus on, 3, 63
  • and the “industrial computer
  • SO’s advocacy of, 66, 295
  • union opposition to, 66

• Bachelet, Michelle, 265–266, 319n12
• Bacon, Nancy
  • as CFO at ECD, 144, 211
  • on financial errors by new ECD board, 353n2
  • negotiation/management of grants and contracts, 174–175, 178–179
  • replacement of, on ECD board, 249
• Baker, Ken, 196
• Baker Brothers, Toledo, 55
• Band-gap profiling, 178–179, 338n21
• Baotou Rare Earth Manufacturing, 197–198, 346n27
• Baranoff, Barney, 46–47
• Baranoff, Francis Wolinsky, 46
• Bardeen, John, 113–114, 155, 323n44
• Bar mitzvah, 27, 105, 152, 166
• Barnard, Tim, 262–263
• BASF Ovonic, 286, 354n5
• Batteries, 99, 188, 343n42. See also Nickel metal hydride battery (NiMH)
• Bedaux, Charles, 308n2
• Beglau, Dave, 217, 346n28, 348n42
• Bekaert, Belgium, 182–184, 338n29
• Benjamin Center Drive Lathe
  • artillery shell production using, 58
  • impacts, 51, 310n10
  • innovative design, 50–51
  • invention and development, 48–52
  • Kronenberg’s evaluation, 53–54
  • limit switches, 107
  • patents, 56, 309n9
  • production changes, 63–64
  • production for Norris Thermador, 60–61
• Berger, Hans, 315n32
• Berman, Walter, 320n23
• B.F. Goodrich, Akron, Ohio
  • founding, 15
  • Miller Plant 1, 35–36
  • Miller Plant 2, 19, 33–35
  • union organizing at, 8, 34–35
• Bienenstock, Arthur, 6–7, 155, 156, 334n12
• Birkenstock, Jim, 334n10
• Birmingham, Michigan, Ovshinsky home in, 106–107
• Blieden, Richard (Dick)
  • on benefits to ECD from dissolution of relationship with Sohio-BP, 178
  • response to plan to mass produce amorphous silicon solar panels, 172
  • solar energy work, 143–144
  • work on the SOHIO contract, 175
• “Bloody Sunday
• Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Ovshinsky home in, 118–119
• Bodman, Samuel, 183
• Bradshaw, Thornton, 144, 313n6, 336n1
• Brain studies. See Neurophysiology
• Brockway, Fenner, 97–98
• Buchholzer, Frances Seiberling (Fran), 206
• Bund culture, 26
• Burroughs Corporation, Detroit, 139–140
• Bush, George W., 185–186

• Calgary, Canada, trip to, 270–272
• Calgory (Kalvarija), Lithuania, 15
• California Air Resource Board, Zero Emission Vehicle mandate, 193, 196–197
• Canella, Vincent (Vin)
  • on ECD corporate culture, 149–150
  • on SO’s complexity, 163
  • on SO’s enabling others to flourish, 160
  • on working with Samsung, 214
  • work on amorphous silicon solar cells, 141–142, 210–211, 336n2, 337n7
• Canon, Japan. See also United Solar Systems
  • agreement to develop amorphous silicon copier drums, 179
  • interest in developing solar technology, 179–180, 338n23
  • learning manufacturing from, 180–181
  • manufacturing discipline imposed by, 338n26
• Carlson, David, 141
• The Car That Could (Shnayerson), 192–193
• Case Institute of Technology, Cleveland
• Catalytic converters, 194
• Chalcogenides/chalcogenide alloys
  • chemical modification, 141, 332n64
  • cross-link structures, 110–111
  • and electrical memories, 5
  • Sapru’s visualizations of, 136–137
  • “schizophrenic” nature of, 329n38
  • studies of, 3–4, 109
  • as term of reference, 321n34
• Chalcogenide switches, in Intel’s 3D Xpoint memory chip, 287–288, 354n10
• Chao, Ben
  • background and work at ECD, 339n3
  • on ECD layoffs, 178–179
  • on impacts of new management at ECD, 249–250
  • on relationship with Chevron, 203–204
• Cheroff, George, 346n24
• Chevron, joint venture with, 201–204
• Chile, trip to, 265–266
• Christian, Larry, 156, 332n65
• Chrysler, 65–66
• Civil rights, political/union activism. See also Workmen’s Circle
  • blacklisting because of, 32
  • and SO’s children’s education, 102–104
  • civil rights activism, 320n23
  • early activism, 8
  • father’s influence on, 24–25
  • responses to racism, 41, 100
  • and socialist background/sewer socialism, 7, 10, 26, 308n3, 308n16
  • union activities, 27, 34–37, 308n3, 313n6
  • and using science for social good, 2–3, 7–8, 63, 96, 100–101, 106, 147–149, 294–295, 310n18
• Clinton, Bill, 181–182
• Closed loop systems, 61, 69–70, 312n33
• Cobasys (Chevron Ovonic Battery Systems), 203
• Cognitive computer
  • focus on during early 2000s, 221–223
  • and IBM’s “artificial neuron
  • team members, 347n42
• Cohen, Morrel
  • as consultant at ECD, 155, 327n22
  • role explaining science underlying threshold switching, 124, 126–127
  • role in cognitive computer project, 348n42
  • work on cosmology project, 247–248
• Cold fusion experiments, 319n17
• Communism/Stalinism, 26, 68
• “A Concept of Schizophrenia” (Ovshinsky), 316n33
• Condensed matter physics, 303n1
• Cone Automatic Machine Company, Windsor, Vermont, 72–73
• Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)
• Continuous production methods, 138, 142–143
• Control Engineering, article about the Ovonic threshold switch, 116–117
• Conway, Jack, 144, 313n6, 332n70
• Corrigan, Dennis, 190–191, 200, 340n8, 340n13
• Cosmology studies, 234–237, 247–248
• Covalent bonding, 136
• Creative process, creativity. See also Analogical thinking; Intuition
  • and ability to handle multiple lines of thought simultaneously, 5
  • and analogic thinking, 5–6
  • appreciation for in all fields of endeavor, 233–234
  • drawings and paintings, 27–28, 225–230
  • integrative, cross-fertilizing approach, 292–295
  • and the invention of the Ovitron, 86
• Creativity and Intuition: A Physicist Looks at East and West (Yukawa), 234, 348n4
• Cross-point switching, 346n27
• Crystals
  • as basis for solid-state physics and transistors, 108
  • crystalline semiconductors, 126
  • precise measurements associated with, 321n30
• Cummings, Richard, 118
• Cunningham, Keith, 137–139, 145, 331n54, 333nn73–74
• Cybernetics; or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine (Wiener), 56, 311n24
• Cybernetics studies, 3, 56–57, 61
• Czubatyj, Wally
  • electronics group leadership, 217
  • physics group member, 156
  • work with the Ovonyx team, 219–220, 346n26, 347n35
  • work on solar energy, 337n7

• Dark matter, skepticism about, 235
• Dauschotz (Dokshytsy) stetl, Daitch family from, 19
• Davidson, William Morse (Bill), 214–215
• The Defect Solid State (Gray), 108
• Democratic socialism, 26
• De Neufville, John
  • on Cunningham, 331n54
  • at ECD structures lab, 130, 139, 328n26, 328nn31–32
  • on Momoko’s negotiating skills, 160–161, 335n22
  • other roles at ECD, 328n33, 341n14
  • on the Ovshinsky meetings on amorphous materials, 327n22
• Density of states measurements, 263, 352n11
• The Depression, impacts in Akron, 26
• Desktop computers, 304n2
• Detroit, Michigan. See also Benjamin Center Drive Lathe; Energy Conversion Devices (ECD)
  • antisemitism in housing, 94
  • auto industry in, 3
  • civil rights activism in, 100
  • Iris’s return to, 93-95
  • labor movement in, 66–67
  • Ovshinsky homes in, 65–66, 71, 98
  • renting storefront on McNichols Road, 72
• Detroit Physiological Society, 89
• Dhar, Subhash
  • and Baotou joint manufacturing venture, 197–198
  • and Ovonic Battery Company (OBC), 191–192, 341n15
  • departure from ECD, 203, 343n44
  • with Texaco Ovonic Battery Systems, 200, 341n14
• Dibner, Andrew (Andy)
  • divorce from Iris, 93
  • family move to Worcester, 81
  • marriage to Iris, 78
  • SO’s debates/arguments with, 79, 102
• Dibner, Bern, 315n29
• Dibner, David, 315n29
• Dibner, Iris Miroy. See Ovshinsky, Iris Miroy Dibner
• Dibner, Richard (Dick)
  • cancellation of patent application for electric power steering, 70
  • introduction of Iris to Stan, 79
• Dibner, Robin
  • childhood memories, 104, 106, 166–167
  • family trip to Hawaii, 254–255
  • at Mashie’s 80th birthday celebration, 168
  • and pressure to achieve, 167
  • relationship with “Stan-Dad” and Iris, 102, 166–167
  • response to move to Detroit, 93
  • response to SO’s relationship with Rosa, 256–258, 260, 351n3
  • trip with SO and Rosa to Calgary, 270–272
• Dibner, Steven (Steve)
  • childhood memories, 104, 106–107, 166, 335n25
  • leadership of the Ovshinsky Foundation, 355n16
  • at Mashie’s 80th birthday celebration, 169
  • on SO’s appreciation for music, 233, 345n13
  • on SO’s use of anger, 164
  • and pressure to achieve, 166–167
  • relationship with “Stan-Dad
  • response to move to Detroit, 93
  • response to SO’s relationship with Rosa, 256–257
  • support for musical talents, 166–167, 335–336n26, 335n24
  • visit to in Santa Fe by SO and Iris, 242
• Diesel engines, high school exam on, 31
• Dirt, role in discovering the Ovshinsky effect, 113
• Dissent quarterly, 66–67
• Doehler, Joe
  • background, 336n5
  • role in producing Ovonic solar panels, 171, 173, 337n7
• Dover, Ohio, move to, 51–52
• Duluth, Minnesota, father’s work in, 17
• DuPont, 347n38
• Dupré, Henri, 75–77
• Dykstra, John, 54
• Dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), 218

• Ecological agriculture, 312n34
• Edison, Thomas
  • and collaborative invention, 123, 324n3
  • comparisons of SO with, 2, 105, 154, 191
  • as inventor as opposed to scientist, 304–305n8
  • Menlo Park laboratory, 327n24
• Einstein, Albert
  • admiration and appreciation for, 234
  • amended field equations, 349n10
  • as a visual thinker, 305n14
• Electrical automatic transmission, 3, 68
• Electrical phase-change memory
  • development of, 1, 5, 131, 217
  • magnetic core memory vs., 331n59
  • optical phase-change memory vs., 346n20
  • revival of at ECD, 216–217
  • three-dimensional, modelling and development of, 217–218
• Electric cars. See EV1 car; Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries
• Electric power steering, 69–71, 313nn13–14
• Electroencephalogram, 315n32
• Electrolytes, elimination of, in SO’s solid-state approach, 321n33
• “Electro-Mechanical Motion” (Ovshinsky), 311n26
• Electromechanical switches, 107–108
• Electronic Machine Control, Ltd., 113
• ELPIDA, 220
• Encryption, threshold switching for, 222
• Energy, complementarity with information, 96, 318n9, 347n39
• Energy Conversion Devices (ECD). See also specific inventions, subsidiary companies, and research units
  • business model, 212
  • closing of the machine shop, 250, 350n10
  • cognitive computer project, 347n42
  • commercial successes, 4
  • commitment to exploring SO’s ideas
  • consultants,152–157
  • Cunningham lawsuit, 145
  • design for alkaline fuel cells, 200
  • dismantling of, 353n3
  • education program, 130
  • electrical phase-change memory division, 131
  • expansion of following ARCO grants, 144
  • expansion of solar thin-film production under Bekaert collaboration, 183
  • and failure to reach agreement with Tatung for thin-film transistors, 215
  • financial difficulties and layoffs, 139, 149–150, 178, 211, 249, 331n56, 333n5, 338n22
  • financing, 127, 143–144, 178–183, 192–193, 195, 197, 218, 331n57, 347n32
  • hiring and promoting of women at, 149
  • hydrogen research programs, 187–192, 199–202, 207–208
  • Institute for Amorphous Studies, 157–159
  • integrative, cross-fertilizing approach to research, 146
  • international flavor, 149
  • as an invention factory, 123
  • joint venture with Canon, 179–180
  • and the mass production of amorphous silicon solar panels, 171–172
  • Momoko Ito’s roles at, 160–163
  • move to Rochester Hills facility, 220
  • naming of Morelli as president, 351n12
  • new directors and bankruptcy, 249, 285, 350n9, 353n2
  • NGEN (Next GENeration of computers) program, 216–217
  • optical phase-change memory technology, 215
  • organizational plan, 148, 333n3
  • patent department, 174
  • phase-change memory groups, 217–218, 346n28
  • photovoltaic program, 139–142
  • physics department, 127–128, 130, 328n26
  • progressive corporate goals and culture of cross-fertilization, 96, 123, 146–152, 292–295
  • purchase of USSC, 183–185
  • relationship with IBM, 334n10
  • renaming and expansion, 4, 118–119
  • research environment, 127–128, 146, 152–154
  • silicon germanium alloy production, 177
  • SO’s changing role from ECL, 123
  • SO’s forced retirement from, 248–249
  • and SO’s need for control, 162–163
  • stock ownership, 334n8, 345n11, 350n8
  • Troy, Michigan facility, 118–120, 123, 324n1, 324n59
  • tuition reimbursement program, 147
• Energy Conversion Laboratories (ECL)
  • early research, 99–100
  • family environment, 100
  • funding, 98–99
  • research environment, 318n4
  • underlying concept and goals, 2, 7–8, 95–96, 100–101, 318n8
• Environmental health concerns, 96–97
• E\PCOS (European Phase Change and Ovonics Symposium), 349–350n5, 355n2
• Epilepsy and schizophrenia studies, 82–83, 315n32, 316nn33–34
• Escoffier, Auguste, 75–76, 315n28
• European Inventor Award, 272–273
• EV1 car, 194–196. See also Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries
• Exchange Auto Parts, 46–47

• Fagen, Ed, 130, 328n26, 331n56
• Falls, Bruce, 201–202, 204–205
• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) surveillance, 68, 316n36
• Feineison, Joseph, 34
• Feinlieb, Julius, 128–129, 155
• Fetcenko, Mike
  • acceptance of European Inventor Award for SO, 273
  • on benefits of disordered materials, 340n10
  • on the ECD culture, 147–148
  • on Iris’s role at ECD, 164–165
  • on relationship with Chevon, 203
  • on Siskind’s role at ECD, 174
  • work for BASF Ovonic, 286, 354n5
  • work with the hydrogen storage program, 188, 190–192
• Fitzpatrick (Akron Standard Mold shop superintendent), 30, 33
• Flasck, Richard (Dick)
  • on annual “Christmas crisis” at ECD, 163–164
  • departure from ECD, 210, 344n4
  • responsibilities at ECD, 130, 139
  • on SO’s visual thinking process, 6
• Flash memory
  • competition with electrical phase-change memory, 217, 331n59
  • corporate support for improving, as challenge for Ovonyx, 221
  • invention, 346n25
  • limitations, 218
  • precursors, 331n59
• Flat-panel displays
  • change from diodes to transistors, 213
  • development of using diodes, 4–5, 210–211
  • ECD’s failure to benefit from, 209
  • inadequacy of chalcogenide materials for, 210
  • and thin-film transistors, 175
• Fluorine, failed efforts to use in devices, 142, 264, 332nn66–67
• Fontana, Georgina, 253, 267
• Ford, Henry, 65, 294–295, 313n12
• Fordism and Taylorism, 308n2, 355n5
• Forge work, love of, 31
• Francisco Ferrar Association, “Modern School,” 315n26
• Frenchy (Imperial Electric foreman), 36
• Frisbee, Bob, 60
• Fritzsche, Hellmut
  • on the firing of Pashmakov, 250
  • first meeting with SO, 114–115
  • friendship with SO, 237
  • and lone pair semiconductors, 134–135
  • management of ECD Physics Department, 128
  • nondisclosure agreements, 116
  • paper on properties of amorphous semiconductors, 127
  • on photoconductivity measurements at Ovshinsky Innovation, 263–264
  • replacement of, on ECD board, 249
  • response to demonstration of threshold switch, 115
  • response to negative publicity about SO, 126
  • at SO’s ninetieth birthday party, 268, 269
  • on SO’s use of public media, 124–126
  • on Teller’s visits to ECD, 154
  • on understanding film conduction, 107
  • on voltages required by thin-film switches, 321–322n35
  • work as consultant to ECL, 116
  • work at Ovshinsky Innovation, 262–263
  • work on tellurium and disordered systems, 114
  • work with SO on cosmology, 234–237, 247–248, 338n24
  • work with SO on superconductivity, 349n87
• Fritzsche, Sybille, 114
• Fuel cells. See Hydrogen fuel cells

• Gardner, Ernest, 83–84
• Garlovsky daughters, 16
• Gasiorowski, Paul, 262–263
• Geddes, Ralph
  • brokering solution to Stanford Roberts’s financial problems, 55–56
  • business ventures, 48–49
  • erratic support from, 54, 70–71
  • familial relationship with, 313n8
  • managerial talents, 68
  • role during SO’s Detroit years, 63, 67–68
  • startup funding for General Automation, 71
• Geiss, Dick, 201
• General Automation Corporation, Detroit, 71–74
• General Motors (GM)
  • EV1 car, 192–194, 342nn30–31
  • fight against the California air standards, 196
  • founding and growth, 65–66
  • open loop hydraulic steering, 69
• Gerard, Ralph W., 84
• Germanium telluride, 6, 337n16
• Gernsback, Hugo, 26
• Gide, André, book report on, 28
• Gigawatt machine
  • abandonment of after SO’s death, 286
  • estimated productivity, 351n7
  • as goal at Ovshinsky Innovation, technical approach, 260–264
  • initial concept, 185
• Glasses, chalcogenide. See also Amorphous and disordered solids; Chalcogenide switches; Flat panel displays
  • as an amorphous solid, 108–109
  • characteristics, 3–4
  • studies of, at ECD, 127, 130
  • use of tellurium, 322n36
• “Glassy Electronic Device May Surpass Transistor” (New York Times), 1, 124–126
• GM-Ovonic, 195–196, 200
• Goldman, Emma, 75
• Goodrich, Benjamin Franklin, 15
• Goodyear Aircraft bomber plant, Litchfield Park, Arizona, 40–41
• Goodyear Airdock, 45
• Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation, 45
• Goudsmit, Samuel, 126
• Gray, Thomas James (The Defect Solid State), 108
• Guardian Industries, and Guardian OIS, 215
• Guha, Subhendu
  • during Bush visit to United Solar, 186
  • negotiations with Canon, 180
  • roles at United Solar, 180–181, 182–183
  • work on Ovonic solar panels, 177–178, 338n20

• Hack, Michael, 338n19
• Hawaii, family trip to, 254–255
• Haywood, Bill (Big Bill), 17
• Heckeroth, Steve, 177, 181
• Heidrich Tool and Dye Corporation, Detroit, 55
• Heinnig, Ruth, 49
• Hennessy, Mike, 262–263
• Henry, Milton, 320n25
• Herrault, André (André Miroy), 75–76
• Hitachi Maxell, 192, 211, 220
• “Hold the Fort” (union song), 233
• Holmberg, Scott, 344n4
• Holonyak, Nick, 114, 323n47, 333n74
• Hong, Kuochih, 188–189, 191, 341n14
• Howe, Irving, 66–67
• Hower Trade School, Akron, 31
• Hudgens, Stephen (Steve)
  • on amorphous semiconductors, 323n54
  • on corporate development of flash memory, 221
  • on explanations of the Ovshinsky effect, 133–135, 329n29
  • management of Ovonyx in California, 220
  • perfection of “spectrum splitting” process, 177
  • on plan to mass-produce silicon solar panels, 172
  • on revolutionary nature of SO’s switch, 323n50
  • on Tyler Lowrey, 218
  • on versatility of the OUM device, 219
• Human intelligence, cognitive computer as analog to, 223
• The Human Use of Human Beings (Wiener), 56
• Hupp Motorcar Corporation, Detroit
  • artillery shell and rocket tube production
  • Benjamin Lathes for, 72
  • cybernetic components for, 68
  • Geddes’s purchase of, 54
  • Geddes’s sale of, 73
  • hiring of SO by, 63
  • and SO’s electric power steering invention, 69–71, 313–314n10
• Hydrogen
  • commercial sources, 343n40
  • early work with, at ECL, 99–100
  • generation, storage, and utilization of, 187–188
• Hydrogenated amorphous silicon. See also Amorphous silicon solar panels
  • development for use in LCDs, 210
  • early research, 331n60
  • photoconductivity, 141
  • use in the ECD photovoltaic program, 141–142
• Hydrogen cars
  • ATP funding for, 199
  • collaborators, 199
  • development process, 198–202
  • second and third version, 205
  • SO’s approach to, 198–199
  • SO’s promotion of, 203
• Hydrogen fuel cells
  • batteries vs., 343n42
  • development of by ECD researchers, 188–189
  • joint venture with Texaco to develop, 199–200
• Hydrogen loop concept
  • early work with, at ECL, 100
  • energy storage issues, 187
  • and hydrogen cars, 198–199
  • ongoing research, 320n18
  • as three-part system, 2, 205–206
• Hydrogen research program, ECD. See also Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries
  • development of storage technologies, 187–188, 201
  • move to OBC, 192
  • researchers associated with, 187–188, 190–192, 201–202

• Iacocca, Lee, 342n29
• IBM
  • “artificial neurons,” 288, 348n41
  • licensing of threshold memory switch to, 334n10
  • work with ECD on optical memory, 138, 215, 331n59
• Imperial Electric, Akron, 36–37
• Industrial computer, 61, 311n21
• Industrial research laboratories, types, 327n24
• Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, “the Wobblies”), 17
• Information, complementarity with energy, 96, 318n9, 347n39
• Information technology
  • as focus at ECD, 209
  • as focus of ECL, 96
  • SO’s contributions to, 11
  • SO’s recognition of importance of, 343–344n1
  • as way of addressing social problems, 2
• Instant-imaging technologies, 137–138
• Institute for Amorphous Studies, ECD
  • Board of Directors, 158
  • colloquia and lectures at, 158–159
  • move of SO’s office to, 250
  • sale of after SO’s death, 280
  • vision for, 157
• Intel
  • collaboration with ECD, 131
  • EEPROM memory, 331n59
  • flash memory, 346n25
  • and Ovonyx, 220, 287–288, 347n32, 347nn35–36
  • 3D Xpoint memory chip, 346n27, 354n10
• Intellectual freedom, SO’s lifelong commitment to, 293–294
• Intuition
  • and analogical thinking, 57, 110, 293–294
  • and capacity for visualization, 135
  • and communication challenges, 128–129
  • and creativity, 233–234, 236
  • reinforcement by reading and experience, 108–109
  • SO’s application to cosmology, 236
  • trust in, 4, 7, 51, 86, 192
• Inventions. See also Patents and specific inventions
  • early interest in, 26
  • and goal of benefitting society, 3, 10, 294–295
  • incorporation into larger systems, 304n7
  • and patent litigation, 306n16
  • range of, 1–5, 123, 291
• Ionic bonding, 136
• Ito, Joichi (Joi)
  • career, 335n23
  • on challenges of working with SO, 221
  • on parental role filled by SO and Iris
  • on SO’s divergence from mainstream computer culture, 347n37
  • on SO’s idiosyncratic scientific explanations, 137
  • at SO’s ninetieth birthday party, 268, 269
  • on SO’s not moving to Silicon Valley, 294
• Ito, Mizuko (Mimi), 161–162, 163, 165, 335n23
• Ito, Momoko
  • background, upbringing, 335n19
  • capacity to hold alcohol, 162
  • hiring of, 160
  • marriage to Masat Izu, 138
  • move to Japan with children, 163
  • negotiating skills, 160–161, 180, 215–216
  • promotion to vice president, 161
• “I want more” story, 9
• Iwasa, Alice, 129
• Iwasa, Sato, 128–129, 131, 138, 328n26, 328n30, 331n54
• Izu, Masatsugu (Masat), 138, 142, 159, 337n7

• Japan. See also Ito, Momoko and specific Japanese companies
  • Japan-ECD, 162–163
  • and negotiations with the Japanese, 8
  • sources of funding for ECL in, 319n15
• Jewish Labor Bund, 16
• Jobs, Steve, 304–305n8
• John R. Buchtel high school, Akron, 28, 31
• Johnson, Robert, 139, 157, 210

• Kamin, Chester (Chet)
  • on cross-fertilization of activities at ECD, 146
  • defense of ECD against UNC lawsuit, 145, 333nn73–74
  • on hiring of Cunningham, 137
  • legal career, 332n71
  • on battery litigation with Matsushita, 197
  • on SO’s lack of fear, 8
  • on SO’s mental capacity, 5
  • on ECD’s patent litigation, 342n32
  • on SO’s relationship with Stempel, 195
• Kastner, Marc, 134–135, 157, 158
• Klersy, Patrick (Pat), 217, 219–220, 262–263, 346n28, 347n35, 348n42
• Klose, Peter, 138, 330n49
• Kluver, Heinrich, 84
• Knudsen, William Signius, 52–53
• Koefod, Ghazaleh, 150, 158, 159, 333n5, 337n10
• Kolobov, Alex (Sasha), 267, 352n2
• Kolomiets, Boris T., 110, 127, 321–322n35, 327n21
• Kotz, Jim, 329n37
• Kronenberg, M., 53–54, 310n13
• Kuhn, Thomas S., 355n2
• Kumar, Arun, 181–183, 285
• Kvant, joint venture in Soviet Union, 181–183

• Lagos, Ricardo, 265
• Lark-Horovitz, Karl, 114
• Laser-related research, 128–129
• Lathes. See also Benjamin Center Drive Lathe
  • basic principles, 50
  • belt-driven, 34
  • center-driven, evolving ideas about, 42
  • high-speed automatic lathe, 3
  • programmable automatic lathe, 72–73, 314n19
  • SO’s adaptations, 30, 47
• Lawsuits. See also Patent litigation
  • with Bill Manning, 213–214, 245n11
  • related to the Ovitron, 91
  • with Tann Corporation, 74, 87
• LeComber, Peter, 141, 331n61
• Leff, Harvey, 18, 175
• Lipscomb, William, 155
• Litchfield Park, Arizona, Goodyear Aircraft bomber plant, 40
• Lithium Corporation of America, 99
• Lockheed Martin, 347n34
• Logic studies, 63
• Lone pair semiconductors, 134–136, 236, 329n38, 329n40, 352n2
• Lou (uncle), 17
• Lowrey, Tyler, 218–221, 347n35

• Machines, machinery
  • early fascination with, 25–26
  • SO’s intuitive understanding of, 30
  • SO’s lifetime love for, 7, 28, 31
• Machinist/toolmaker work
  • and early tool purchases, 31
  • early work experience, 3
  • and the importance of the Benjamin Lathe, 51
• Madan, Arun, 141–142, 157, 337n7, 338n19
• Magnetic core memory, 331n59
• Manning, William (Bill), 211–214, 345n11
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 61
• Masuoka, Fujio, 346n25
• Mathematics
  • and SO’s visual capacity, 18n14
  • trouble understanding in school, 25
• Matsushita patent infringement lawsuit, 215–216
• McCarthy, Walter, 194
• McCarthy era investigations, 68
• McGill, John, 211, 344n6
• Memories, as historical sources, challenges of using, 303n6, 323n49
• Memory switches, phase-change. See also Ovshinsky effect; Threshold switches
  • comparison with threshold switches, 324n55
  • neural network applications, 220–221
  • and read-mostly memory, 131
  • understanding, as early focus of ECD Physics Department, 128
• Metal hydride batteries. See Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries
• Metallurgy, education in, 31
• “Method and Apparatus for Storing and Retrieving of Information” (patent), 328n29
• Metzger, Jim, 249
• Micron Semiconductors. See also Intel
  • joint venture with ECD, 218–219
  • purchase of Ovonyx, 287
• Micro-Ovonic Fiche (MOF), 137–138
• Miroy, André (André Herrault), 75–76
• Mishakoff, Misha, 335–336n26
• Mobility edge, in threshold switches, 127, 236, 327n23
• Mohegan Colony, Westchester, NY, 75–76
• Mongolia, OPBC-Baotou battery manufacturing plant, 197–98
• Moore, Gordon, 131
• Morelli, Mark, 351n12
• Morin, Ferdinand A., 83–84, 120
• Morita, Akio, 319n15
• MOSFETs (metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors), 221
• Moss, Howard, 130–131, 328n26
• Mott, Nevill Francis, 124–126, 135, 154, 157, 325n7, 326n18, 327n23, 334nn11–12
• Muni, Paul (Frederick Weisenfreund), 24, 307n12
• Multiple-ball switch, 73–74
• Munitz, Bertha. See Ovshinsky, Bertha (Teibel) Munitz
• Munitz, Rebecca Daitch, 19
• Music
  • father’s love for, 24
  • SO’s love for, 233
  • science as analogous to, 233
  • Steve Dibner’s talents, 165, 233, 335n24, 335–336n26
• Musk, Elon, 304–5n8
• Myasnikov, Vitaly, 201
• Mytilineou, Eugenia (Genie), 216, 227, 273–274, 280
• National Inventors Hall of Fame, posthumous induction of Ovshinsky into, 291–292
• Navy, rejection by, 37–38
• Neale, Ron, 131, 323n43
• Nemanich, Gene, 201, 203
• Nerve cell analogy, neural networks. See also Cognitive computers
  • as basis for the Ovitron, 6, 85, 293–294, 317n41
  • as contribution to inventing the threshold switch, 108
  • and cognitive computing, 220–223, 354–355n14
  • IBM’s “artificial neuron
  • mechanical analogs to nerve cell behavior, 3, 6
  • modeling, 3
  • and signal transmission between neurons, 3, 84–85
• “Nerve Impulse” (Ovshinsky), 57, 311n26
• Neurophysiology
  • epilepsy and schizophrenia studies, 82–83
  • papers on nerve impulses, 83
  • studies related to, 3, 56–57, 83–84, 119–120
• New Britain Machine Company Group, Connecticut, 55–59, 61, 312n31
• New York Times
  • SO’s obituary in, 325n12
  • Steven’s article about chalcogenide switches, 124–126
  • Sunday edition, habit of reading, 25
• NGEN (Next GENeration of computers) program, 216–217
• Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries
  • development of, 1, 4, 8–9, 188–191
  • and the electric car, 9, 193–194
  • manufacturing of, OBC-Baotou approach, 198
  • marketing using licensing model, 192
  • patent for, 190–191
  • patent infringement lawsuits, 197
  • posthumous honoring of Ovshinsky for, 291–292
  • recharging process, 339–340n5
  • safety of, 342n36
  • unique features, 190–191
  • use of catalytic oxides to enhance, 193
  • as a use of disordered material, 339n2
• “Normal” vs. “revolutionary” science, 335n2
• Norris, Larry, 8, 174, 179, 328n29, 337n8
• Norris Thermador, 60–61
• North American International Auto Show, Advance Technology Vehicles presentation, 196, 342n29
• Norway, cruise to, 273–274
• Noyce, Robert, 131

• OBC. See Ovonic Battery Company (OBC)
• O’Donnell, Dan, 346n24
• ODS. See Ovonic Display Systems (ODS)
• OI/OS. See Ovshinsky Innovation/Ovshinsky Solar
• OIS. See Ovonic Imaging Systems, Inc. (OIS)
• Open loop hydraulic steering, 69
• Optane (Intel), 354n10
• Optical phase-change memory
  • comparison with electrical phase-change memory, 346n20
  • development of at ECD, 128–130, 215
  • devices dependent on, 5
  • increasing speed and life cycles, 216
  • 225 alloy, 216
• OSMC. See Ovonic Synthetic Materials Company (OSMC)
• OUM. See Ovonyx (Ovonic Unified Memory, OUM)
• The Ovitron (amorphous switch)
  • commercial development, 86–89
  • electrochemical operating principles, 85–86
  • as example of SO’s creative process, 86
  • lawsuits related to, 87, 107, 314n24
  • mechanism of action, 317nn41–42
  • and the nerve cell analogy, 3, 6, 85
  • Ovitron Corporation, 86–91
  • public announcement of, 87–88
• Ovonic Battery Company (OBC)
  • early history, 191–192
  • joint manufacturing venture with Baotou, 197–198
  • licensing business model, 192
  • purchase by BASF and ongoing operations, 286
  • US ATP grant award, 343n38
• Ovonic Display Systems (ODS), 210–211
• Ovonic Hydrogen Storage, 354n4
• Ovonic Imaging Systems (OIS), formerly Ovonic Display Systems, 211–215
• Ovonic Imaging Systems, Inc. (OIS), 137–139, 330n48
• The Ovonic Link, IRIS feature, 149
• Ovonic Memories, Inc. (OMI), 137–139
• Ovonic Memory Device, naming, 325n14
• Ovonic Quantum Control Device, 222–223
• Ovonic solar panel
  • “band gap profiling
  • cell structure inversion, 178
  • production of through United Solar, 180–182
  • roll-to-roll production approach, 173
  • spectrum splitting, 177
  • underlying technology, 173
• Ovonic Synthetic Materials Company (OSMC), 212
• Ovonic thin-film amorphous threshold switch.
  • discovery of, 111–113
  • licensing of, 113
  • mechanisms of action, 133–135, 325n11, 329n40, 330n43
  • naming, 325n14
  • patents and journal articles about, 116–118
  • promotional efforts, 113–117
• Ovonyx (Ovonic Unified Memory, OUM), 219–220, 287, 347n35
• Ovshinsky, “Alter
• Ovshinsky, Benjamin (Ben, father). See also Workmen’s Circle
  • background and immigration to Ohio, 15–16
  • breadth of reading and interests, 24
  • childhood in Russia, 15–16
  • death and funeral, 48, 309nn4–6
  • drawing of, 18, 277
  • generosity, 21
  • health problems, 42–43, 46
  • influence on son, 7, 24
  • love for theater and music, 24, 233–234
  • marriage to Bertha Munitz, 19–20
  • move to Akron, 17–18
  • railroad work and travels, 17
  • relationship with son, 24, 46
  • religious practice and cultural identity, 308n18
  • scrap metal business, 18
  • social values, activism, 7, 24
  • work with horses, 15, 17–18
• Ovshinsky, Benjamin (Ben, son)
  • birth, 51
  • childhood memories, 69, 71, 310n15
  • civil rights activism, 103–104
  • education, 106
  • on growing hostility to SO among ECD board members, 241
  • recollections of the Hupp plant in Detroit, 72
  • relationship with father, 167
  • on relationship with Geddes, 67, 313n8
  • response to SO’s relationship with Iris, 102
  • response to SO’s relationship with Rosa
  • SO’s letter to about studying, 311n28
• Ovshinsky, Bertha (Teibel) Munitz (mother)
  • childhood in White Russia (Belarus), 19
  • conflicts with SO over religion and politics, 27
  • conflicts with husband over politics, 21
  • friction with Norma, 45
  • immigration to the US, 19
  • kindness, hospitality, 21
  • marriage to Ben Ovshinsky, 19–20
  • SO’s financial support for, 48
  • religious observance, 21
  • separation of SO from his father, 46, 48
  • visit to Phoenix, 41–42
  • wedding gift to son, 39
• Ovshinsky, Cathie Kurek (Mrs. Harvey)
  • on Iris’s declining physical and mental health, 242
  • marriage, 167
  • response to SO’s relationship with Rosa, 256, 258
• Ovshinsky, Dale (son)
  • birth, 51
  • developmental challenges, 81, 104
  • with family, 167
  • gratitude to Rosa, 351n4
  • later life and religious convictions, 104
  • support from father and Iris, 167, 353n8
• Ovshinsky, Harvey (son)
  • arranging obituaries for SO, 280
  • birth, 51
  • career, 168–169
  • childhood memories, 71, 104–105, 309n1, 309n6
  • with family, 168
  • on Iris’s declining health, 242
  • response to SO’s relationship with Iris, 103
  • response to SO’s relationship with Rosa, 95, 257–258
  • at SO’s ninetieth birthday party, 268, 352n3
  • on test drive of electric vehicle, 193–194
• Ovshinsky, Herbert (Herb, brother)
  • on benefits to ECD from dissolution of relationship with Sohio-BP, 178
  • birth, 21
  • collaborations with brother, 91, 100, 261
  • and the development of the Benjamin Lathe, 50
  • and the development of instant imaging technologies, 138
  • marriage and move to New Britain, 58
  • move to Detroit, 71
  • polio, 54
  • relationship with nephew, Ben, 51, 54
  • response to SO’s relationship with Iris, 82
  • on SO’s marital difficulties, 54–55
  • visit to Phoenix, 41–42
  • work at Exchange Auto Parts, 47
• Ovshinsky, Iris Miroy Dibner (Mrs. Stanford)
  • biochemistry degree, 83
  • childhood and upbringing, 7–8, 75–78
  • community-building at ECD, 147–150, 164–165
  • death, 244–246
  • divorce from Andy Dibner, 93
  • with family, 168
  • family history of suicide, 349n5
  • family life, role in sustaining, 95, 102–106, 164–167, 242, 353n18
  • funeral and memorial, 247
  • health issues, 241–242, 350nn6–7
  • idealism/dedication to societal justice, 7–8, 95, 97, 100–101, 105–106, 123–124, 147–148, 193, 232–233
  • impact of SO’s health problems on, 349n2
  • living arrangements in Detroit, 93–95
  • marriage to Andy Dibner, 78–79
  • marriage to SO, 95, 102–103
  • move to Michigan, studies and degrees, 78
  • partnership role at ECL and ECD, 81, 95–99, 123, 163–165, 196, 218, 251
  • relationship with SO, 2, 7–8, 74, 79–82, 102, 107, 243–244, 318nn1–2
  • return to Detroit, 93
  • trip to Santa Fe, 242–244
• Ovshinsky, Myrtle (Mashie/Sandra, sister), 21, 96
• Ovshinsky, Norma Rifkin (Mrs. Stanford)
  • anger towards Iris and Stan, 95, 102
  • background and personality, 38–39
  • divorce, 99
  • friction with Bertha, 45
  • marriage to SO, 39, 54–55
  • move to New Britain, 58
  • pregnancy, 46, 310n16
  • remarriage, 320n21
• Ovshinsky, Rosa Young (Mrs. Stanford)
  • background and education, 343n37
  • conservatism, 261–262
  • and the hydrogen car project, 199–200
  • marriage to SO, 256–258, 260–261
  • on negotiations with Tatung, 215
  • ninetieth birthday party for SO, 267, 270
  • recruitment of engineers from Russia, 201
  • relationship with SO, 151–152, 253–256, 258, 260–261, 351n2, 353n9
  • response to Iris’s death, 253–254
  • response to SO’s final illness/death, 275–279, 281–282
  • role in developing phase-change materials, 216
  • role in promoting electric cars, 343n39
• Ovshinsky, Selma (Herb’s wife), 50, 58, 71
• Ovshinsky, Stanford Robert (Stan), 310n15. See also Analogical thinking; Creative process, creativity; Energy Conversion Devices (ECD); Energy Conversion Laboratories (ECL); Intuition; Inventions and the other members of the Ovshinsky family
  • achievements, 4, 7–11, 268, 291–295
  • appearance, 123, 324n4
  • artistic interests and talents, 24, 225–234
  • awards and honors, 10, 301–302
  • boxing, 8, 26–27
• cancer diagnosis and metastasis, 275
  • capacity for multitasking, 5, 151
  • childhood, 21–25
  • communication challenges, 6–7, 124, 128, 139, 306n18
  • creativity, artistic expressions, 27–28, 225–232
  • curiosity, 25, 86, 225
  • as a father, 168, 311n28
  • final wishes and death, 276–278
  • formal education, 2, 25, 28, 30–31, 84, 306n18
  • health problems, 38, 213, 242, 259–260, 268, 270, 274–276, 324n58, 349n2
  • idealism, dedication to social justice, 193, 232–233
  • integrated view of the sciences, 2, 135
  • love for toys and models, 232
  • as “maverick” inventor, 327–328n25
  • ninetieth birthday party, 267–270, 274
  • obituaries, memorials and burial, 279–280, 281, 353n12
  • personality, 3, 8–9, 99, 128, 163–164, 250, 325n18, 336n6
  • response to Iris’s death, 245–247, 253
  • scientific recognition/rejection, 4, 115–118, 125–128, 152–154, 233–234, 237, 288, 291–294, 306n18, 313n10, 326n18
  • self-education, love for reading, 2, 5, 24–25, 36–37, 56, 63, 82, 96, 110, 229, 235
  • self-promotion, 113–114, 126, 203, 205, 293, 325n14
  • social democratic politics, social vision, 7–8, 10, 95–97, 105–106, 124, 147–148, 163, 292
  • on the unity of all human spheres of endeavor, 146, 225
  • visionary predictions, 1, 126
  • writing skills, 27, 231, 232–233
• Ovshinsky effect
  • definition, 305n11
  • demonstration of to Fritzsche, 115
  • and the development of information technologies, 209
  • discovery and development of, 111–113
  • electronic vs. thermal mechanisms of action, debates about, 133–134
  • environment in which discovered, 11
  • explanation for “cross” pattern, 322n39
  • mechanisms of action, 133–35, 329n40
  • and optical phase-change memory, 129–130
• Ovshinsky Foundation, 355n16
• Ovshinsky Innovation/Ovshinsky Solar (OI/OS)
  • assets turned over to the Ovshinsky Foundation, 355n16
  • creation of, 260–261
  • focus on improving panel production rates, 262
  • goals, 9
  • inability to obtain commercial funding
  • liquidation of following SO’s death, 286–287
  • principals and working team, 262–263
  • SO’s personal financial investment in, 262
  • Wicker’s revival of, 288–289

• Pashmakov, Boil, 219–223, 249–250, 262–263, 347n33, 348n41
• Patents
  • the automatic tractor, 61–62
  • the Benjamin Lathe, 56
  • electric power steering, Hupp’s false claim, 313–314n14
  • electromagnetic automatic transmission, 68
  • hydrogen storage alloys for NiMH battery, 341n21
  • importance of to ECL/ECD success, 116
  • “Method and Apparatus for Storing and Retrieving of Information,” 328n29
  • nickel metal hydride (NiMH) battery, 190–191
  • patent litigation, 8, 197, 306n16, 342n32
  • rechargeable batteries, 340n7, 340n10
  • roll-to-roll solar panel production machine, 174, 337n9
  • SO’s approach to, 174
  • “Symmetrical Current Controlling Device” (threshold switch), 116, 323n53
  • “Thermoelectric Device,” 319n16
• Pauling, Linus, 155, 305n11, 334n13
• Pearson, A. David, 326n16
• Pellier, Laurence and René, 132–133
• Peterman, Nate, 71
• Phase-change memory. See also Ovshinsky effect; Threshold switches
  • basis for in the Ovshinsky effect, 112
  • development of at ECD, 216–218
  • discovery of, 4, 118
  • slow impact of, 209
  • in 3D Xpoint memory chip, 287–288, 354n10
  • and use in cognitive computing, 221, 354–355n14
• Philips Corporation, 340n7
• Phoenix, Arizona, Ovshinsky family in
• Photovoltaic cell, operation of, 140–141
• Physical Review Letters, Ovshinsky paper on chalcogenide switches, 1, 124, 126
• Physics Department, ECD, 127–128, 155–156, 328n26
• Piori, Emanuel, 334n10
• Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method (PVD), 173, 336n4
• Poincaré, Henri, 236
• Political activism. See Civil rights, political/union activism
• Polsky, Sylvie, 168
• Popular Invention magazine, 26
• Powell, Max
  • employment at ECL, 100–102, 320nn19–20
  • friendship with SO, 150
  • on Iris, 101
• Power steering, 3, 313nn13–14
• Power window brake, 68–69, 313n10
• “Progress in Understanding the Ovshinsky Effect: Threshold Switching in Chalcogenide Amorphous Semiconductors” (Hudgens), 329n29
• Proof of principle, 51, 147, 262, 264, 286, 310n12
• Pryor, Roger, 346n24
• PVD method. See Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method

• Quantrol (threshold switch, original name), 113
• Quantum mechanical tunneling, 7, 317n42
• Quantum Technologies, Lake Forest, California, 201
• Quartet Manufacturing Company, 211
• Quartet Ovonics, 211

• Rabi, Isidor Isaac, 152–154, 333n6, 334n10
• Racism. See Civil rights, political/union activism
• RCA, discovery of the Staebler-Wronski effect, 176
• Read-mostly memory (RMM), 131–132, 139–140
• Reger, Arie, 187–189, 191–192, 340n12
• Reichman, Benjamin (Benny), 188–189, 191–192, 340n12
• Reischauer, Edwin, 162, 335n22
• Reischauer, Haru, 335n22
• Rewritable CDs/DVDs
  • commercial use, 216
  • development of, 1, 5, 129
  • limited ECD benefits from, 209
• Richetti, Mr., 47–48
• Rifkin, Abe, 38
• Rifkin, Ida Moon, 38
• Rifkin, Jerry, 38
• Robbins, Lionel, 102, 119, 323n49
• Roll-coating, 336n2
• Roll-to-roll production approach, 8, 142–143, 171–173, 176–177, 336n3, 337n9
• Ross, John, 6, 156–157, 253, 335n17
• Rubber, chemistry of, 34, 110–111, 322n37

• SAFT (battery company), 342n32
• Saito, Freya, 262
• Samsung, 213–215, 220, 345n14
• Santa Fe trip, 242–244
• Sapru, Krishna, 135–137, 157, 187–189, 191, 341n14
• Sarbanes-Oxley Act, 2002, 249
• Schankler, Sam, 49, 309n8
• Schwartz, Brian, 9, 155, 157–159
• Science, role in addressing societal problems, 2–3, 7–8, 63, 96, 100–101, 106, 147–149, 294–295, 310n18
• Science/scientists, mainstream, recognition/rejection by, 4, 125–128, 152–154, 233–234, 237, 291–294, 306n18, 326n18
• Scrap-metal business, father’s, 7, 18
• Seitz, Frederick, 108
• Selenium, 109
• Servomechanisms, 84
• Sewer socialism, 7, 10, 26, 308n3, 308n16. See also Workman’s Circle
• Shachtman, Max, 27
• Shaiken, Harley
  • education and career, 329n36
  • hiring, 100, 318n5
  • and Lagos visit to ECD, 265
  • machinist work at ECD, 131–132
  • on SO’s achievements, 294–295
  • at SO’s ninetieth birthday party, 268
  • on SO’s trip to Chile, 265
  • Yiddish school, 105
• Sharp, Osaka, Japan
  • contract with to produce amorphous silicon solar panels, 175
  • origins, 337n14
  • relationship with ECD, 345n17
  • solar-powered calculator, 175, 177
  • support for ECD’s solar cell production
  • thin-film transistors, 175
• Shaw, Melvin (Mel), 134, 152, 156, 210, 337n7
• Shell Hydrogen, 199
• Shnayerson, Michael (The Car That Could), 192–193
• Sie, Charlie, 148, 328n26
• Silicon germanium alloy production, 177
• Silicon transistor, 89, 109
• Silver, Marvin, 152, 210
• Simon, Leon, 87
• Siskind, Marvin (Marv)
  • on ECD income from patent infringement lawsuits, 197
  • on financial blunders by new ECD board, 353n2
  • on Momoko’s negotiation skills, 160–161
  • on OIS relationship with Samsung, 214
  • on outcome of patent dispute with Canon, 179
  • on problems with Cobasys, 203
  • on slow development of optical phase-change memory, 215
  • work on solar panel patents, 174
• Smart machines. See Automation
• Smith, Jack, 196
• Smith, Richard (Dick), 175
• Smith, Robert Holbrook (Dr. Bob), 99
• Society for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE), 103, 105, 320n22, 320n23
• Society of Automotive Engineers, 314n20
• Sohio. See Standard Oil of Ohio
• Solar energy. See Thin-film solar panels
• Solar-powered calculator, 175, 177
• Solid-state physics, 108, 124, 321n28, 321n30, 321n33, 327n22
• Sovlux machine, 181–183, 198
• Spangenberg, Charles (Chuck), 116
• Spear, Walter, 141, 331n61
• Spiegel, Anita, 75–76, 78, 82, 95–96, 349–350n5
• Staebler-Wronski effect, 176, 264, 332n66
• Stalinism, Marxism, 26
• Standard Oil of Ohio (Sohio), 175, 178, 336n1, 337n13
• Stanford Roberts Machine Company, 48–52, 54–56
• Stempel, Robert (Bob)
  • on the buyout of Bekaert, 183
  • on carbon dioxide exhaust, 341
  • and the EV1 car, 194–196, 338n28
  • and the hydrogen car, 201–202, 205
  • investment in Ovshinsky Innovation, 262
  • on loss of support from Canon, 181, 183
  • partnership with SO, 342n27
  • and SO’s office at the Institute for Amorphous Studies, 250
• Stevens, William, 124–126
• Strand, David (Dave)
  • on declining morale at ECD, 250
  • on dismantling of OI/OS, 287
  • on fun of working at ECD, 152
  • leadership of group on physics of phase-change materials, 216–218
  • on limitations of the cognitive computer program, 223
  • work for Ovshinsky Innovation, 262–263
• Stronium 90 fears, 320n24
• Structures lab, ECD, 130–131
• Superconductivity, 349n87
• Swigert, Arthur, 71, 314n18
• Symposium on Vitreous Chalcogenide Semiconductors, Leningrad, 127

• TA1 and TA2 (Tandems One and Two) machines, 175
• Tanaka, Hiroshi, 180
• Tann Corporation
  • funding for General Automation, 74
  • lawsuit related to the Ovitron, 87, 314n24
• Tantalum oxide film, 3, 85–86, 108, 317n40
• Tatung, Taiwan, 215
• Taylor, Frederick Winslow, 308n2
• Teller, Edward, 154
• Tellurium, 109–111, 138, 322n36
• Texaco/Texaco Ovonic Battery System, 199–201
• “Thermoelectric Device,” 319n16
• Thin-film solar panels
  • and affordable technology, 319n12
  • Canon support for, 179–180
  • development work, 1, 4, 139–142, 151
  • efficiency improvements, 263–264, 338n21
  • gigawatt machine, 185, 260–264, 286, 351n7
  • output power ratings, 336n3, 337n15
  • resiliency, 338n35
  • roll-to-roll production approach, 8, 142–143, 173
  • SO’s vision for, 142, 171–172, 250–251
  • triple junction panels, 181
  • underlying technology, 140–141, 173, 331n60, 337n7
• Thin-film technologies
  • nonsolar applications, 210
  • semiconductors, 344n2
• Thomas, Norman, 68, 106, 320n23
• Threshold switches. See also Ovonic thin-film amorphous threshold switch
  • durability, 280–281
  • electronic vs. thermal mechanisms of action, debates about, 133–134
  • invention of, 4
  • mechanisms of action and possible applications, 222
  • mobility edge, 127
  • neural network applications, SO’s regaining of control over, 220
  • relation to memory switch, 324n55
  • three-terminal threshold device, 222–223
  • understanding, as early focus of ECD Physics Department, 128
  • use in 3D Xpoint memory chip, 287–288, 354n10
• Titanium, 40
• Toyota Prius
  • ECD batteries in, 197
  • refitting to run on hydrogen, 201–202
• Troy, Michigan, ECD facility, 118–120, 123, 324n1, 324n59
• 225 alloy, 216–217

• The UAW and Walter Reuther (Widick and Howe), 67
• Unions. See Civil rights, unions, and political activism
• United Auto Workers (UAW), 66, 313n6
• United Nuclear Corporation (UNC), 145, 333nn73–74
• United Solar Systems (USSC), 176, 180–181, 183–185, 338n26, 338n33
• United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC), 193, 341n20
• “The Use of Electro-Mechanical Motion to Replace the Loss of Human Movement” (Ovshinsky), 57

• Vanderkirk, Charles, 71
• Venkatesan, Srinivasan (Srini)
  • development of prototype NiMH battery, 188–189, 341n22
  • on ECD’s corporate culture, 148
  • hydrogen research, 191–192, 200
• Vijan, Meera, 198, 342n34, 344n6, 344n9
• Visual imagination, Ovshinsky’s. See also Analogical thinking; Intuition
  • as basis for most important work, 6, 134–135, 292–295
  • Einstein’s, 305n14
  • Flasck on, 130
  • and SO’s struggles with formal math, 307n14

• Wagoner, Rick, 342nn30–31
• Wall Street Journal, article about Ovshinsky, 124
• Watkins, Ed, 71, 87, 314n17
• Wayne State University
  • neurophysiology studies at, 3, 84
  • reaction to the Ovitron at, 89
  • Rosa’s position at, 262
• Welded steel bases, disputes about, 311–312n29
• White House roof solar panels, 341n20
• Who Killed the Electric Car? (film), 193
• Wicker, Guy
  • cold fusion experiments, 319n17
  • and the development of electrical phase-change devices, 217
  • doctoral dissertation, 346–347n30
  • on Lowrey, 218
  • on OIS components in Samsung displays, 214
  • on relationship with Intel, 220, 347n36
  • replication of the Ovitron experiment, 317n42, 355n15
  • revival of Ovshinsky Innovation, 288–289
• Widick, Branko J. (BJ), 27, 66–67, 153, 308n17
• Wiener, Norbert, 3, 56, 311nn23-24
• Wilhite, Jeff, 206–207, 343n47
• Wilkinson, John, 51
• Will, Fritz G., 340n7
• Williams, J. R. (cartoonist), “Bull of the Woods” character, 30
• Wilson, Robert R., 2, 155, 327n25
• Wilson, William Griffith (Bill W.), 99, 208
• Worcester, Mass., Dibner family move to, 81–82
• Worcester Foundation, 316n35
• Workmen’s Circle
  • cemetery, burial of Iris in, 247
  • cemetery, burial of SO in, 279–281
  • cultural activities, Bund culture, 26
  • English language classes, 19
  • father’s involvement in, 7, 24
  • meetings of SO and Iris at, 79
  • political activities at, 26
  • purpose, 24, 233
  • school at, 105, 306n15
• World War II, guaranteed profits during, 40
• Woz, Roger, 182
• Wrinkles in space-time, 235

• Yang, Jeff, 150–151, 171–172, 177–180, 258, 337n7
• Yang, Moshi, 213
• Yaniv, Zvi, 210–215, 344n5, 344n9, 345n19
• Yiddish culture, 24–26, 306n15
• Yiddish school, 25, 27, 28, 105
• Youdina, Irina, 258–259, 267, 270, 279–280, 281, 353n6, 353n9
• Young, Rosa. See Ovshinsky, Rosa Young (Mrs. Stanford)
• Young Peoples’ Socialist League, 7, 26
• Yukawa, Hideki (Creativity and Intuition: A Physicist Looks at East and West), 234, 348n4

• Zallen, Richard, 154, 156, 293, 321n29, 327nn22–23
• Zero Emission Vehicle mandate (California), 193, 196–197