Concise Encyclopedia of Tufts History
Sauer, Anne
Branco, Jessica
Bennett, John
Crowley, Zachary
2000
Gordon, Bernard, 1927
Bernard Gordon, founder of the Gordon Institute at Tufts and Analogic Corporation, is a member of the board of overseers for the College of Engineering and a trustee. He is considered one of the founders of the digital information and entertainment age. His involvement with Tufts stems from the brief time he spent on the Medford campus as a trainee in the Navy V-12 Program, and has grown to include the institute that bears his name and a pledge of $20 million to support the College of Engineering and its programs. | |
Gordon is best known for his work in the field of high-speed analog-to-digital conversion. Fifty years ago he was a member of the team that developed the first commercially available digital computer. He led teams that went on to create breakthrough devices such as the fetal monitor, the mobile CT scan, and an advanced security imaging scanner to detect explosives and other contraband. | |
Born and raised in Depression-era western Massachusetts, Gordon attended Springfield Technical High School and devoted his time to inventing useful devices, including an improved outhouse mechanism. After applying and being turned away from MIT at age sixteen, Gordon enrolled in the Navy's V-12 training program and came to Tufts. Gordon was at Tufts for less than a year taking courses in engineering and other subjects, but he was impressed with Tufts' friendliness when then-president Leonard Carmichael greeted him by name on a stroll across campus one day. | |
Source: TA, Winter 2000 | |
Subject terms: |