Irwin Jacobs - Photo by Al Santos.   Students Welcome! Whiting-Turner Lecture Series Home Missed the Lecture? This lecture was webcast live.

A Whiting-Turner Lecture by Irwin M. Jacobs -- 
October 11, 2005

Dr. Irwin Mark Jacobs is co-founder and chairman of the board of directors of QUALCOMM Incorporated, pioneer and world leader of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology. Dr. Jacobs served as chief executive officer of the Company until July 2005.

Dr. Jacobs has led the commercialization of CDMA technology and its success as the world's fastest-growing, most-advanced voice and data wireless communications technology. CDMA is the basis for all third-generation (3G) wireless networks; these 3G CDMA networks now carry the voice and data traffic of more than 150 million subscribers worldwide.

Dr. Jacobs holds several CDMA patents, contributing to QUALCOMM's extensive portfolio of more than 3,000 issued and pending U.S. patent applications. More than 125 companies have licensed CDMA for the manufacturing of wireless devices and network infrastructure equipment, integrated circuits and test equipment.

Dr. Jacobs previously served as co-founder, president, CEO and chairman of LINKABIT Corporation, directing its growth from a few part-time employees in 1969 to more than 1,400 employees in 1985 and first introduction of Ku-band Very Small Aperature Earth Terminals (VSATs), commercial TDMA wireless phones, and the VideoCipher® satellite-to-home TV system. LINKABIT merged with M/A-COM in August 1980, at which time Dr. Jacobs served on the company's board of directors until he resigned from M/A-COM in April 1985. More than 35 San Diego telecommunications companies, including QUALCOMM, trace their roots back to LINKABIT.

From 1959 to 1966, Dr. Jacobs was an assistant/associate professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). From 1966 to 1972 he served as a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of California-San Diego. At MIT, Dr. Jacobs co-authored a basic textbook on digital communications entitled, Principles of Communication Engineering. First published in 1965, the book remains in use today.

Dr. Jacobs received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1956 from Cornell University and master of science and doctor of science degrees in electrical engineering from MIT in 1957 and 1959, respectively.