Andrew Bobeck

Andrew H. Bobeck (October 1, 1926 - ) is a noted Bell Labs researcher best known for his invention of bubble memory.

Bobeck was born in Tower Hill, Pennsylvania, received his B.S. (1948) and M.S. (1949) degrees in electrical engineering from Purdue University, and in 1949 joined Bell Laboratories where he helped design communication and pulse transformers, and then one of the first solid-state digital computers. Starting in 1956 he devoted his efforts to the development of magnetic logic and memory devices. He invented the twistor memory in the late 1950s, and in the late 1960s bubble memory based on magnetic domains in orthoferrites and garnets. In 1989 he retired from AT&T's Bell Labs.

Bobeck holds more than 120 patents, and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and an IEEE Fellow. He received an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from Purdue in 1972, the 1971 Baker Prize, the Franklin Institute's 1973 Stuart Ballantine Medal, the 1975 IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award, and the 1987 IEEE Magnetics Society Achievement Award.