Dr. James E. West

Dr. James E. West and a colleague, Gerhard Sessler developed the microphone (Electroacoustic Transducer Electret Microphone, its official name) while working at Bell Laboratories and they received a patent for it in 1962.

West worked at Bell Labs as an intern while he was attending Temple University.  James Edward West holds 47 US patents and over 200 foreign patents in a career that spanned 40 years with Bell Labs.  He now works with Johns Hopkins University as a research professor.