Felix Zandman

Felix Zandman ( born May 7, 1927 in Grodno, Poland at that time, † June 4, 2011 in Philadelphia, United States) was the founder and most recently Chairman ( Chairman of the Board) of Vishay Intertechnology, Inc., one of the world's largest provider of electronic components.

Life

Childhood and youth

Felix Zandman grew up in his native town of Grodno, then located in Poland on. At the age of 14 he came in October 1941 with parents, sister, two grandparents pairs and many other relatives in the ghetto. He survived the Holocaust as a teenager, because a friendly Polish family hid him for 17 months.

His hiding place consisted of a pit that was 170 cm long, 150 cm wide and only 120 cm tall. Felix Zandman shared this hideaway with three other Jews. One of them was his uncle Sender, who taught him in the long hours of darkness in trigonometry and higher mathematics.

The advanced Soviet Army brought them in July 1944, the Liberation. In other survivors he remained a short time in Poland. In June 1946, he was a high school. In the summer of 1946 he was able to legally emigrate to France.

Training

From 1946 to 1949 he studied in France at the University of Nancy physics and engineering. In parallel, he was enrolled in a Grande école for Engineering. Subsequently, he completed his doctorate at the Sorbonne as a physicist on a topic of photoelasticity. A particular research result he could be patented as the measurement method.

Professional life as an employee

Zandman was initially for two years as a lecturer at the Ecole de l'air, the French Academy of Aeronautics. He then worked as an engineer in his special field of tension measurement for a state-owned company, which produced aircraft engines.

In 1956 he was able to present his methods and proprietary measuring devices for the first time in the USA. He was able to establish important contacts with leading professors in his field and well-known users. He was eventually employed by the company Tatnall Measuring Systems in Philadelphia as director of basic research.

Initially, he focused on the development of his method to measure voltages by optical coatings. Then he developed a temperature resistant electrical resistance. However, his employer had no interest in the commercialization of this invention.

Professional life as an entrepreneur

Felix Zandman put the potential of his invention, then, to self-employed. To this end, he founded the company in 1962 Vishay. His relative Slaner Alfred took over a large part of the initial funding. The company evolved into a Fortune 1000 company with many subsidiaries and more than 22,000 employees worldwide

In 1994 he was also an Israeli citizen. In 1998 he acquired the company TEMIC ( Telefunken Microelectronic ). He was married and the father of three children. On June 4, 2011, he died at the age of 84 years in Philadelphia, USA.

Works

• Never the last journey - from the Polish ghetto to Wall Street. Autobiography with co-author David Chanoff, Econ Verlag, Munich, 1999. ISBN 3-430-19921-2.
• Resistor Theory and Technology: Revised Printing. Unknown with co-authors Paul René Simon and Joseph Szwarc, Scitech Pub Inc, place, new edition from December 2002, ISBN 978-1-891121-12-8