Oral History of Robert Fontana

Interviewed by Roger Wood, on August 14, 2024 in San Jose, California,
© Computer History Museum

Robert (Bob) Fontana was interviewed by Roger Wood on behalf of the Computer History Museum
on August 14th 2024. Over a long career, Bob was responsible for many of the processes that enabled the miniaturization of the read/write heads for magnetic recording. This work provided a foundation for the huge increases in the data storage capacity seen in hard disk drives and digital tape recorders. Bob has received numerous accolades for his work including the IEEE Cledo Brunetti Award.

Bob was born in 1947 in Champaign, Illinois. His father was in the US Air Force and consequently Bob’s early education was in various locations around the US. He received BS, MS, and Ph.D degrees all from MIT where he was first introduced to magnetic devices. On graduating, he joined Texas Instruments in Dallas to work on magnetic bubble memory. In 1981, Fontana joined IBM in San Jose, California, to work on thin film magnetic recording heads including inductive heads, magnetoresitive heads, and tunnel-junction heads. Notable colleagues and collaborators included Ta Lin Hsu, Ching Tsang, Christopher Bajorek, Heiner Sussner, Prakash Kasiraj, and Bob Scranton.

Bob Fontana also played an influential role in various professional societies: for example, in 2001-2002, he was president of the IEEE Magnetics Society and received the Distinguished Service Award in 2017.

* Note: Transcripts represent what was said in the interview. However, to enhance meaning or add clarification, interviewees have the opportunity to modify this text afterward. This may result in discrepancies between the transcript and the video. Please refer to the transcript for further information - http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102809036

Visit computerhistory.org/collections/oralhistories/ for more information about the Computer History Museum's Oral Histories Collection.

Catalog number: 102809037
Lot number: 2024.0119
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