Baliga to Be Inducted Into National Inventors Hall of Fame

B. Jayant Baliga, Distinguished University Professor of Electrical Engineering at North Carolina State University, will be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame – adding to a string of laurels that have seen him lauded from the North Carolina Governor’s Mansion to the White House.

Baliga is being honored for his invention of the Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistor, or IGBT – a power semiconductor device used as an electronic switch around the world in all sectors of the economy, ranging from transportation to consumer appliances to factory robots and medical devices in hospitals. He has been issued 120 U.S. patents, many of them commercialized via his four successful start-up companies in North Carolina.

“I am very pleased that the National Inventors Hall of Fame has acknowledged my invention of the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor by this prestigious induction,” Baliga says.

The improved efficiency gained by using the IGBT in a wide range of applications has resulted in saving more than 1.5 trillion gallons of gasoline and reducing electrical energy consumption by more than 75,000 terra-watt-hours (equivalent to not having to build 1,366 one-gigawatt coal-fired power plants). Since its invention, the IGBT has saved consumers $24 trillion while reducing carbon dioxide emission by more than 100 trillion pounds.

The National Inventors Hall of Fame was launched in 1973 to inspire the next generation of inventors by celebrating the achievements of visionary U.S. patent holders who, through their innovations, have changed the world. The 516 previous inductees include Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. Previous NC State inductees are Willard Bennett in 1991 and Donald Bitzer in 2013. Baliga will be inducted at a May 2016 ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Baliga has received numerous awards in a career spanning four decades, including the 2015 Global Energy Prize, the 2014 IEEE Medal of Honor, the 2012 North Carolina Award for Science, the 2011 National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Obama, the 1999 IEEE Lamme Medal, the 1998 O. Max Gardner Award, and the 1992 Pride of India Award, among others. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and an IEEE Life Fellow.

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