Hilmer Swanson

Hilmer Irvin Swanson (1932 to 2005) was an American radio engineer, born in Davenport, Iowa, who spent 35 years at Harris Corporation designing high efficiency amplitude modulation transmitters for broadcast radio. After Army Signal Corps training and service, he earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at Valparaiso Technical Institute and a master's at Iowa State University, and worked for Collins Radio and Gates Radio before Harris took over. His patents led to the first commercial pulse duration modulation system and to progressive series modulation, polyphase PDM and digital amplitude modulation, and made vacuum tube AM transmitters obsolete. He also designed a two million watt transmitter for the Voice of America, and became a Harris Fellow.