Eugene Fubini

From ETHW

Eugene Fubini
Death date
1997/08/05
Associated organizations
CBS, Office of Defense and Engineering
Fields of study
Radar

Biography

Eugene Fubini was born and educated in Italy and came to the United States in 1939 when his father Guido Fubini, a mathematics professor, joined the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., USA.

Dr. Fubini, who had a Ph.D. in physics, worked as an engineer for CBS in New York City and also studied microwave technology. From 1942-45 he was a research associate at the Harvard University Radio Research Laboratory, where he designed electronic equipment for use in World War II.

He went on to be a technical observer and scientific consultant to the U.S. Army and Navy in the European theater in 1943-44.

He also helped set up operations for locating and jamming Axis radar to reduce its effectiveness in pinpointing Allied aircraft during the Allied invasions of Italy and southern France. In 1944-45 he was with the American 8th Air Force in Britain. There his duties included overseeing further measures to locate and frustrate Axis radar.

In 1961 he joined the Office of Defense and Engineering at the Pentagon and rose to be deputy director of defense research and engineering for research and information systems. In June 1963 U.S. President John F. Kennedy selected him for the additional position of assistant secretary of defense.

In 1965 he resigned from his Pentagon post and went on to become a group vice president of IBM and later became a private engineering consultant in Arlington, Va. In 1996 he was honored for his work with the Pentagon when Secretary of Defense William Perry established an award in Dr. Fubini's name for distinguished service to the U.S. Defense Department - and gave him the first award.

Fubini was an IEEE life fellow. He died on August 5th, 1997 at his son's home in Brookline, MA.