Tucker was born in 1925 in
New York City. Tucker graduated from the
Birch Wathen School in 1943, and from
Columbia College in 1947,
Phi Beta Kappa, with special distinction in mathematics and physics. In 1953, he received his PhD from
Columbia University, where he studied with
Isidor Isaac Rabi. He was also a member of the
Sigma Xi honor society. In 1954, he was promoted to physicist in charge of semiconductor research at
Poughkeepsie, New York. He also started research into field effective transistors and related areas such as processing techniques, chemistry, lithography, and circuit design, laying the groundwork for IBM's
mainframe memories. From 1976 to 1985, Tucker was vice president for Science and Technology for
International Paper. He also served as a director of
Motorola and was the chairman of the technology committee and a member of the executive and audit committees. Tucker died in November 2021. == References ==