B. Jayant Baliga

Who is B. Jayant Baliga?

B. Jayant Baliga is an Indian electrical engineer best known for his work in power semiconductor devices, and particularly invention of the insulated gate bipolar transistor. Scientific American magazine included him among the 'Eight Heroes of the Semiconductor Revolution' when commemorating the 50th anniversary of the invention of the transistor. Baliga grew up in a small village called Jalahalli near Bangalore, India. His father is a former head of Bharat Electronics Limited. He received his B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, in 1969, and his MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

He worked 15 years at the General Electric Research and Development Center in Schenectady, New York, then joined North Carolina State University in 1988 as a Full Professor. He was promoted to Distinguished University Professor in 1997. His invention insulated gate bipolar transistor that combines sciences from two streams Electronics engineering and Electrical engineering. This has resulted in cost savings of over $15 trillion for consumers, and is forming a basis for smart grid. Baliga then worked in academic field. He also founded three companies that made products based on semiconductor technologies.