Percival Perry

born:

place: Antigua

current employment.

 

Dr. Percival Perry received his Ph.D. in Physics from University of California at Berkeley and later was a senior research physicist for IBM in Yorktown Heights, NY.

At the Antigua Grammar School Percival Perry was an "A" student, Latin, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Pure and Applied Maths; it is said that in his classes in his last years the contest amongst the other students was for second place. In 1958 he was the only Grade-I recipient in the Cambridge exams. In athletics, in that same year he was "Victor Ludorum", an award for best athlete, making him the only student to achieve both awards simultaneously, in the [115 year] history of the Antigua Grammar School. He is also an excellent swimmer and diver." He was to play football for the AGS and Antigua in that same year.

At age 16, he left Antigua for college: Hampton Institute in Virginia. In 1963 he graduated with a triple major in Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics, and received a graduate scholarship to the University of Maryland. However, due to mounting racism, he left for Stanford University.

After two years, he received his Masters in Applied Physics (Stanford) and began work at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre (SLAC). There his work involved probing the structure of the atom, and took him into the rare world of subatomic particles. Between 1965 and 1967, as part of a design team, he participated in the design and testing of a prototype of Streamer Spark Chamber (This apparatus is has been used in the search for the elusive Quark).

In 1968, he moved to Berkeley and the University of California and changed his specialisation to Solid State Physics. There at Berkeley he designed a stable node locked 50 MW Laser, intra-cavity modulation and extra-cavity demodulation of He-Ne laser. He also lectured at undergraduate and graduate level in Physics and worked with the great scientist Charles Townes, as research assistant, who received the Nobel Prize for Science. At Berkeley, he recived his Ph.D.

After the doctorate, Perry joined the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York between 1973 and 1986. Here, among other things, besides major scientific papers, he designed a fast data logging optical spectroscopy system, and made it operational.

He was the recipient of the Fulbright Hayes Faculty Fellowship in Physics and taught at the University of IFE, Nigeria as such in the years 1978 ­ 1979.

In 1980 as part of the 1979 U.N. International Year of Telecommunications Dr. Percival Perry devised and designed an approved project, which saw him create, build and install a satellite tracking system to monitor the path of hurricanes as they made their way through the Caribbean.

In 1991, he coached of the Antiguan soccer team to the first OECS championship in 1991. More recerntly he has show interest in Antiguan politics.

References: {Dr. Perry], [Tim Hector]

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