Jon Myer

Jon Myer (September 29, 1922 – August 30, 2001) was an experimental physicist and inventor who received 50 U.S. patents in the fields of semiconductors, mechanics, electronics, magnetics and optics. His prolific work encompassed a wide field of research and his inventions ranged from supermarket scanners to laser microwelder technology. Over the course of his career, Myer was the author of 11 scholarly papers on semiconductor materials technology, optical instrumentation, information processing and the history of science. In 1972 he was inducted into the Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society.

Early life Myer was born Hans Wolfgang Mayer in Heilbronn, Germany. In 1935, at the age of 13, he fled the Nazis to British-governed Palestine with his parents and two younger brothers.

Myer earned his engineering degree in 1941 from the Hebrew Technical College in Haifa and worked at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology on a variety of projects including anti-magnetic-mine timers for the British Navy. on secret project for the paramilitary Haganah, to devise a system for broad communication of secret information without the use of wired or wireless systems. This project remained a state secret for over 50 years.

Published journal articles