Biography
Joel was born in Philadelphia, and spent portions of his youth living in New York City, where he graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx.
He earned his B.Sc. (1940) and M.Sc. (1942) in electrical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked on the Rockefeller-funded differential analyzer (project headed by Vannevar Bush), and a thesis on functional design of relays and switch circuits, advised by Samuel H. Caldwell. Joel worked at Bell Labs (1940–83) where he first undertook cryptology studies (collaboration with Claude Shannon), followed by studies on electronic switching system that resulted in the 1ESS switch (1948–60). He then headed the development of advanced telephone services (1961–68), which led to several patents, including one on Traffic Service Position System and a mechanism for handoff in cellular communication (1972). Since 1983 he worked as a consultant to AT&T, developing mechanisms for optical switching.
Joel died in his home in Maplewood, New Jersey on October 25, 2008, at age 90.
Read more about this topic: Amos E. Joel, Jr.
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