Baliga created a popular semiconductor power switch.
By Raif Karerat
An Indian American scientist has been chosen for induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, an exclusive club that counts the likes of Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison among its ranks.
Bantval Jayant Baliga had no idea his insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) would have such an impact on the world when he came up with it while working for General Electric in the 1980s. The device is a semiconductor power switch that is used in many modern appliances from electric cars to air-conditioners, and is particularly notable as a significant energy saver.
“It really blew everyone away that this could be used for all of the appliances like lighting and air-conditioning,” Baliga told CBS News. “After being in-house for awhile, the device started getting exposure when companies from all over the world started manufacturing the IGBT and using it in an enormous range of applications.”
The switch has reduced gasoline consumption by about 10 percent and improved electrical efficiency by more than 40 percent, eliminating carbon dioxide emissions by over 100 trillion pounds globally for the past quarter century.
Now a professor of Electrical Engineering at North Carolina State University, Baliga holds 120 U.S. patents, many of which have been commercialized through his four successful start-up companies, according to the Press Trust of India.
The IIT-Madras graduate is slated to receive his award on May 5, 2016 alongside 15 other inventors at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C.