C. Harry Knowles Founder President, Board of Trustees Knowles Science Teaching Foundation

Recognizing the critical importance of quality science and mathematics teaching to our nation’s well-being and economic competitiveness, Harry and Janet Knowles established the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation in 1999.  The couple provided KSTF’s $80 million endowment from the sale of their shares in Metrologic Instruments.  Mr. Knowles established Metrologic, a pioneering force in the data-capture industry, in 1968 and led the company until his retirement in 2007. 

Mr. and Mrs. Knowles’ early philanthropic activities include funding the American Association of Physics Teachers Physics Bowl and endowing the Howard and Carolyn Carr Chair in Physics at Auburn University, Mr. Knowles’ alma mater.

Mr. Knowles is named inventor or co-inventor on over 290 patents with another 100+ pending. He was inducted into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame in 1995.  In 1999, Metrologic was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame for inventive corporations.   Mr. Knowles’ inventions and developments include: the basic concepts underlying “Moore’s Law” (1964) ; the 2N2222 “Star Transistor” (Motorola, 1950s, still an active design) (1961); first hand-held bar code scanner intended for retailers (1975); a portable methane detector, measuring to within five parts per million, for detecting leaky gas pipes (1972); the first mini-slot scanner for non-supermarket retailers (1985); Ge Mesa Transistor which provided the brains for most large computers of the 1960’s; the world’s first He-Ne (Helium-Neon) Laser Hobby Kit (1969).

From 1962 to 1967, prior to founding Metrologic, Mr. Knowles directed Westinghouse’s IC operations.  From 1957 to 1962, he led R&D at Motorola Semiconductors, where he was responsible for Motorola’s advanced transistor and integrated circuit operations.  At Motorola, Mr. Knowles oversaw some of the world’s first high-speed wire bonding, die bonding, computerized testing, and other volume production techniques.

From 1953 to 1957, Mr. Knowles was part of Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he published papers on voltage breakdown prediction of diffused junction Zener Diodes, and on the theory of Hyper-Abrupt PN Junctions.  While at Bell Labs, he directed efforts on the 107 MHz transmitter transistor for the nation’s first satellite, Project Vanguard, as well as the digital Germanium Mesa Transistor that served the late 1950s and 1960s generation of computers.