Donald Bitzer

Donald Lester Bitzer (January 1, 1934 – December 10, 2024) was an American electrical engineer and computer scientist. He was the co-inventor of the plasma display and was widely regarded as the "father of PLATO".

Life and career

Donald Lester Bitzer was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, on January 1, 1934.<ref>Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame 2006 inductee bio. (PDF). October 17, 2006. Template:Webarchive.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> He grew up in Collinsville, Illinois.<ref name=":0" /> Bitzer received three degrees in electrical engineering (B.S., 1955; M.S., 1956; Ph.D., 1960) from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bitzer held several patents in numerous areas, while the PLATO computer system, the first system to combine graphics and touchscreens, is the most famous of his inventions.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bitzer co-invented the flat plasma display panel in 1964.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1974, Bitzer was elected as a member into the National Academy of Engineering for "his leadership in the utilization and development of technology for improving the effectiveness of education".

From 1989, Bitzer was a Distinguished University Research Professor of Computer Science at North Carolina State University.<ref name=ncsu>Template:Cite news</ref>

Bitzer was married to Maryann Drost, a nurse and educator, from 1955 until her death in 2022 and had a son, along with three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0" /> He died of congestive heart failure at home in Cary, North Carolina, on December 10, 2024, at the age of 90.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0" />

Awards

In 1973, the National Academy of Engineering presented Bitzer with the Vladimir K. Zworykin Award, which honors the inventor of the iconoscope.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bitzer was a designated National Associate, an honor which was granted to him by the National Academies in 2002. He was also a member of the American Society for Engineering Education.<ref name=ncsu/>

• Member of the National Academy of Engineering (1974)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Computer Society Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (1982)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Slottow Creativity Award (1989)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Emmy Award (2002)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Inducted into National Inventors Hall of Fame (2013)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2018)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Holladay Medal (2019)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Fellow of the Computer History Museum (2022)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

External links

• NCSU Faculty Profile
• Oral history interview with Donald L. Bitzer. Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota. Bitzer discusses his relationship with Control Data Corporation during the development of the PLATO system.
• Oral history interview with Thomas Muir Gallie. Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota. Gallie, a program officer at the National Science Foundation, describes the impact of Bitzer and the PLATO system.
• University of Illinois Computer-based Education Research Laboratory PLATO Reports, PLATO Documents, and CERL Progress Reports. Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota. Archival collection that contains internal and external reports and publications related to the development of PLATO and its operations.