In Memoriam

Henry Guckel, 1932-2000 (20K JPG)

Henry Guckel was born on July 19, 1932 in Hamburg, Germany and died peacefully on June 5, 2000 in Madison, Wisconsin. He came to the United States in 1950 and after completing high school served from 1950 to 1954 as an electronics technician with the United States Air Force. After his discharge from the Air Force he attended the University of Buffalo receiving a BS in electrical engineering in 1958 followed by MS and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois-Urbana in 1960 and 1963. After graduation he joined IBM research in Yorktown Heights where he continued his work on high-speed digital circuits. From 1966 to 1970, he was Assistant and then Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, MO.

In 1970, he joined the UW-Madison electrical and computer engineering department. He was given responsibility for the development of the silicon fabrication program at Wisconsin and succeeded in creating both an outstanding teaching lab, which has graduated a large number of exceptionally well-prepared students, and a research program which is internationally recognized as a center of excellence. His reputation as an exceptional teacher with important things to say filled his classes, despite the knowledge that his courses were demanding and tough. Graduate students found that he never asked them to work harder than he did himself, but some found this pace more than they expected.

He was the founder of the Wisconsin Center for Applied Microelectronics (WCAM), incorporating a fully functional integrated circuit facility, to provide a focal point for externally funded research in silicon devices. He also contributed significantly to the original effort in X-ray lithography on the campus and was a member of the Sematech Center of Excellence in X-ray lithography.

In recent years his interests turned to silicon fabrication of micromechanical devices — ultra-tiny mechanical parts such as gears, beams, motors, etc. His contributions in surface micromachining include pressure transducers and resonating force transducers as well as materials science and measurement procedures for the mechanical properties of thin films. His efforts in deep X-ray lithography and electroplating contributed significantly to three-dimensional micromechanisms. He published more than 200 papers in microelectronics and micro-mechanics and holds more than 80 patents. His many honors include the IBM-endowed chair of Bascom Professor in Engineering and the Schlumberger Foundation Award for Excellence in Sensor Research.

Guckel was an avid fisherman and made a number of trips to Canada and Alaska as well as enjoying spending time on the local lakes and especially on the streams and rivers of southwestern Wisconsin. He loved gardening and his rose garden was a landmark in his neighborhood. He is survived by his wife, Mary; his son, Eric; one brother and two sisters.