James Edward West was born on 10th February 1931 in Farville, Virginia. His father held many jobs and his mother was a schoolteacher. She worked at Langley Air Force Base during World War II but later lost her job because she was involved in the NAACP.

At just 12 years old, West worked alongside his cousin at, wiring rural Virginia houses and it was during this work that he became interested in electricity.

West attended Hampton University with plans to move onto medical school, however he was drafted for the Korean War. He won a Purple Heart for his service but later became a pacifist and changed university, attending Temple University in Philadelphia. He also decided to study Physics from which he graduated in 1957.

Thehistorymakers.com interviewed James in 2012 and they wrote of his work:

West was hired at Bell Laboratories, where he began his studies to obtain his Ph.D. degree. During the second year of his doctorate program, West and a colleague, Gerhard Sessler, constructed a small microphone that did not require the use of a battery. This electret microphone replaced the carbon microphone and revolutionized communications technology. West’s invention was used in such devices as hearing aids and space technology. Even in 2011, 90% of microphone technology had its foundation in West’s development of the electret microphone. In addition to his research, West co-founded the Association of Black Laboratories Employees (ABLE) at Bell Labs in 1970. West retired from Lucent Technologies as a Bell Laboratories Fellow in 2001. He has continued to do research, joining the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in 2002. His research interests include, among other things, finding new technology that will replace the electret microphone.

West’s inventions and contributions in electrical engineering have garnered him a great deal of recognition. In 1999, West was the fourth African American selected to join the National Inventors Hall of Fame for the invention of the electret microphone. He also received the U.S. National Medal of Technology in 2006. He has forty-seven U.S. patents, over 200 foreign patents, and has written over a hundred academic papers.

src: http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/james-west

An amazing contribution that still affects the microphones of today!