James Benford
I am President of Microwave Sciences in Lafayette, California. My interests include HPM sources and systems from conceptual designs to hardware and teaching HPM. I have developed a variety of microwave sources, built the world’s largest HPM experimental facility, and started the world’s first HPM product line. I was program manager of ORION, the largest and most complex HPM system ever built.
Subjects: Engineering - Electrical, Physics
Biography
I am President of Microwave Sciences in Lafayette, California. My interests include HPM sources and systems from conceptual designs to hardware and teaching HPM. I have developed a variety of microwave sources, built the world’s largest HPM experimental facility, and started the world’s first HPM product line. I was program manager of ORION, the largest and most complex HPM system ever built.In 1997, I was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering for "transferring high power microwave sources and systems into custom commercial products". In recent years, clients include 25 private companies, including the aerospace primes, 10 government agencies (NASA, DoD), and 3 universities. I have written 150 scientific papers and 6 books on physics topics, including the textbook, High Power Microwaves, now in its 3rd edition. In High Power Microwave teaching: 28 courses in 9 countries, including 11 courses in the USA. I recently co-edited Starship Century, dealing with the prospect of star travel.
Areas of Research / Professional Expertise
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▪ Microwave Sciences, President, 1996-present. The company has been a successful means of HPM source development, testing facility operations, and advanced applications. My current interests include phase control of high-power arrays by phase-locking of oscillators or master oscillator-driven high power amplifiers. My past experience includes work on electromagnetic
launchers, pulsed power design, system studies, and the use of microwaves for space propulsion.
Note that most of my publications can be found at my website, jamesbenford.com.
Professional Memberships
▪ IEEE:
-Member, 1970-present
-IEEE Fellow, 1997
-IEEE Senior Member, 1990
-Conference Chairman, ICOPS, IEEE International Conference on Plasma Sciences, Oakland California, 1990
-Three-time Elected Member, Executive Committee, Plasma Sciences Division, 1987-1989,1992-1994 and 1997-1999
-Guest Editor, Special Issue on High Power Microwave Generation, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Sciences, vol. 20 1992.
▪ EMP Fellow, 1968
▪ American Physical Society member, 1968-present
▪ British Interplanetary Society member, 1996-present
▪ Planetary Society member, 1998-present
▪ National Space Society member, 2005-present
▪ Project Icarus Designer, 2010-present
▪ Project Forward Director, 2012-present
▪ Reviewer for Physical Review Letters, IEEE Transactions in Plasma Sciences, Journal of Applied Physics, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society and Applied Physics Letters
Personal Interests
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My interests include HPM sources and systems from conceptual designs to hardware and teaching HPM.
My principal hobby is gardening, and I also follow Egyptian archeology and science fiction.
Books
Photos
Videos
Published: Jan 04, 2016
'Sailships' talk at Starship Century Symposium, UCSD, May 2013
Published: Oct 05, 2015
my talk starts 29 minutes into this day-long video. Talk lasts about 45 minutes. Related papers can be found at my website, http://jamesbenford.com
Published: Oct 05, 2011
My work on what to look for in searching for ET: cost-optimized SETI Beacons. Related papers can be found at my website, http://jamesbenford.com