Vladimir Karapetoff (1876-1948)
Dr. Karapetoff was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on 8 January 1876. His father was an engineer and his mother a student at a military medical school. Dr. Karapetoff immigrated to the United States in 1902 and became a naturalized citizen in 1909.
In 1904, Dr. Karapetoff joined the engineering faculty of Cornell University as an assistant professor; in 1909, he was made a full professor and continued in that capacity until he retired from active teaching in 1939.
During World War II, Dr. Karapetoff was commissioned a Lt. Commander in the US Navy.
He seldom missed the annual Eta Kappa Nu Awards Dinner in New York City and would address the society in what a fellow engineer described as “refreshingly original and lucid expositions” of his technical interests.
Dr. Karapetoff was the author of several electrical engineering texts that were widely used and revised through several editions, as well as other texts on electrical and magnetic currents, electrical testing, and engineering mathematics.
His colleagues also remembered him as an accomplished musician on piano, violoncello, and double bass. He toured the country giving recitals and lectures on Wagner, Liszt, and other major composers and developed a five-string cello on which violin music could be played. Dr. Karapetoff received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the New York College of Music.
Dr. Karapetoff was a member of the AIEE, the Franklin Institute, the AAAS, the American Mathematical Society, the Mathematical Society, and the Mathematical Society of America.
Award Recipients
2018: Mau-Chung Frank Chang
2017: Asad M. Madni
2016: No Award Given
2015: No Award Given
2014: No Award Given
2013: No Award Given
2012: No Award Given
2011: No Award Given
2010: Thomas Kailath
2009: Gerard A. Alphonse
2008: Leo L. Beranek
2007: Arun G. Phadke & Stanley H. Horowitz
2006: Arun N. Netravali
2005: Stanley White
2004: Yau-Chau Ching
2003: Bernard C. DeLoach, Jr.
2002: Robert H. Dennard
2001: Chester Gordon Bell
2000: Amos E. Joel, Jr.
1999: Jack St. Clair Kilby
1998: Al Gross
1997: Jerry M. Woodall
1996: Harold A. Wheeler
1995: John L. Moll
1994: Nick Holonyak, Jr.
1993: George H. Heilmeier
1992: Wilson Greatbatch