Keneth Alden Simons
He also authored a seminal technical handbook on cable television systems, and served on national and international engineering standards committees.
Fellow cable engineer Archer Taylor stated that Simons was seen as the leading technical expert at Jerrold for over two decades.
On one occasion in 1939 he and another field engineer installed a television set in the honeymoon cottage of movie stars Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck, and Simons showed her how to operate it.
In the summer of 1940 he was sent by RCA to run the public address system and make recordings of speeches on the campaign train of Wendell Willkie, the Republican candidate for president that year.
"[11] Other engineering colleagues included Eric Winston, Mike Jeffers, Frank Ragone, Caywood Cooley, Vic Nicholson, Len Ecker, and Bill Felsher.
In a technology area based on rapid and constant change, the 704B was of note in being in production and use for more than 20 years [13] The 704 name is honored even today in a fraternal organization of its users The Loyal Order of the 704, commemorating the meter’s defining role in cable development.
(For further details on his career at Jerrold, see Simons’ oral history in interview Houser Oral and Video History Collection at The Cable Center[36]) As part of the International Geophysical Year, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory set up a national network of amateur-run observation stations to track the early Russian artificial satellites, Sputniks I and II, Operation Moonwatch.
He expanded on its concept with a proposal for a contemporary bidirectional hybrid copper and optical cable television headend, with a 1 GHz bandwidth and privacy capabilities.
Simons collaborated in this effort, attempting to use phase modulation of the illuminating laser to more efficiently measure hemoglobin deoxygenation in body tissue.
However, not only was he a contributor to cable television but he volunteered his unique knowledge to the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in developing optical imaging systems for the detection of breast cancer and brain function.
Britton Chance Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia Philly.com: Letters Posted: June 30, 2004 [42] In addition to the list of memberships and committee assignments Simons was an invited participant at a variety of standards-setting meetings.
