Terman returned to Stanford in 1925 as a member of the engineering faculty. He also wrote
Radio Engineering (first edition in 1932; second edition, much improved, in 1937; third edition in 1947 with added coverage of new technologies developed during World War II; fourth edition in 1955 with a new title,
Electronic and Radio Engineering), one of the most important books on electrical and radio engineering, and to this day a good reference on those subjects. Terman's students at Stanford included
Oswald Garrison Villard, Jr.,
Russell and Sigurd Varian,
William Hewlett, and
David Packard. He encouraged his students to form their own companies and personally invested in many of them, resulting in firms such as
Litton Industries,
Varian Associates, and
Hewlett-Packard. Terman was president of the
Institute of Radio Engineers in 1941.
War years During World War II, Terman directed a staff of more than 850 at the
Radio Research Laboratory at
Harvard University. This organization was the source of
Allied jammers to block enemy
radar, tunable receivers to detect radar signals, and aluminum strips ("chaff, window") to produce spurious reflections on enemy radar receivers. These
countermeasures significantly reduced the effectiveness of radar-directed
anti-aircraft fire.
Stanford Research Park and Silicon Valley After the war, Terman returned to Stanford and was appointed
dean of the School of Engineering. In 1945 he was influential in the creation of a microwave research laboratory at the Stanford School of Physical Sciences. In 1951 he spearheaded the creation of Stanford Industrial Park (now
Stanford Research Park), whereby the university leased portions of its land to high-tech firms. Companies such as
Varian Associates,
Hewlett-Packard,
Eastman Kodak,
General Electric, and
Lockheed Corporation moved into Stanford Industrial Park and made the mid-Peninsula area into a hotbed of innovation which eventually became known as
Silicon Valley. He served as
provost at Stanford from 1955 to 1965. During his tenure, Terman greatly expanded the science, statistics and engineering departments in order to win more research grants from the
Department of Defense. These grants, in addition to the funds that the patented research generated, helped to catapult Stanford into the ranks of the world's first class educational institutions, as well as spurring the growth of
Silicon Valley. Terman's efforts to create a mutual relationship between Stanford and the tech companies in the surrounding area also significantly contributed to this growth. Speaking of this effort, Terman said In 1964, Terman became a
founding member of the
National Academy of Engineering. In 1966 Terman played a central role in helping the
Park Chung Hee Administration establish the Korea Advanced Institute of Science, which later became
KAIST. Terman Hall at KAIST was named in his honor in 2004. ==Recognition==