Engineer, entrepreneur and philanthropist Bernard Marshall Gordon developed an interest in electronics at an early age. An expert in signal-processing technology, Gordon has received more than 200 patents for a range of devices in the fields of industrial instrumentation, medical imaging, computer systems, aerospace telemetry and communications. Many consider him the father of modern high-speed analog-to-digital conversion.

Gordon’s analog-to-digital converter has been applied to many medical, analytical, computer and communications products, but according to Gordon, it had a humble beginning. “The idea arose in my head, and there was no market. Arthur D. Little in 1955 did a market survey and advised a company not to buy into it because there was a market for only 10 A-to-D converters in the world,” Gordon shared in an interview. “There’s probably ten million a week minimum made today.”

Gordon developed important medical technologies such as an instant image CAT scanning machine, the world’s first solid-state X-Ray machine and a portable imaging system that assists stroke and trauma victims. His inventions have improved medical care and saved thousands of lives.

By Jen Santisi