George Farrall
Dyke Award Recipient 1992
George Farrall worked in the field of vacuum discharges since joining
the General Electric Company Research Laboratory (now the Research and
Development Center) in Schenectady, NY in 1957. He retired in 1992
to occasional consulting. Early in his career he was involved with the
development of the first commercially marketable power vacuum interrupter
under the direction of Dr. James D. Cobine and Dr. James M. Lafferty. Much
of that work involved the study of arc phenomena in gases and in vacuum,
and especially in the dielectric properties of vacuum under both static
and
dynamic conditions. He was further concerned with the development of
a triggered vacuum gap (TVG) with particular emphasis on arc ignition and
dielectrics. This device also became a commercial product. Throughout
his career, Dr. Farrall has been closely associated with the GE X-Ray Tube
Division in Milwaukee Wisconsin in connection with studies of the dielectric
behavior of vacuum, gases, oils and solids that is necessary for successful
development of modern medical systems. He is most pleased to have received
the Dyke Award in 1992 at Darmstadt, but was greatly saddened by the death
of a remarkable colleague, Paul Chatterton, in the year just preceding
the Darmstadt Meeting (XVth ISDEIV).
[©1992].
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