Alumni > Alumni Profiles
John R. Woodyard
Left: John R. Woodyard from a 1936 Electrical Engineering Faculty photo. (EE Department Photo). Right: Researchers examine the first klystron at Stanford University in 1939. Standing L to R Sigurd Varian, David Webster, William Hansen. In front, Russell Varian and John Woodyard, Washington alumnus. (Stanford News Service photo).
One alumnus who left a record is John R. Woodyard. Woodyard graduated in 1933 with a B.S.E.E. magna cum laude and stayed on for graduate school. In 1935-36 he worked with Magnusson as an Instructor. In the fall of 1936 Woodyard went to Stanford, where he obtained an M.S.E.E. and a Ph.D. in Physics. Woodyard worked with his Ph.D. adviser, William Hansen, and three other researchers on the klystron, a key radar component. Woodyard is sometimes listed as a co-inventor. During the war the entire klystron team was moved across the country to Sperry to continue its work. Later Woodyard worked with E. O. Lawrence on controlling calutrons, part of the isotope separation process used by the Manhattan Project. After the war Woodyard worked on the Stanford Linear Accelerator and later became a Professor of Electrical Engineering at Berkeley.
