James E. Boyd (scientist)

Education Boyd was born to Emory Fortson and Rosa Lee (née Wright) Boyd on July 18, 1906, in Tignall, Georgia, a small town near the eastern border of the state of Georgia. He had two brothers, John and Ellis, and a sister, Sophia. In 1927, he received a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from the University of Georgia, where he was a member of an honor society, Phi Beta Kappa. In his thesis, Boyd described the effects of reflecting radiation through samples of powdered, cold-worked and annealed beryllium with differing particle sizes. The experiment showed that beryllium crystals are "rather imperfect", that annealing caused "no appreciable change" in beryllium's lattice structure, and that the mass absorption coefficient of beryllium found in the experiment was reasonably close to the theoretical value calculated using Compton's empirical formula. James and Elizabeth went on to have two children: a daughter, Betty Cobb Boyd (born August 26, 1939) and a son, James Fortson Boyd (born October 9, 1942). With World War II under way, Boyd joined the United States Navy in 1942, serving as a lieutenant and later lieutenant commander in the Bureau of Ordnance, performing research on radar. From 1945 to 1946, he was a commander in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations where he worked on radar and electronics. Boyd was promoted to professor of physics in 1948. In 1950, Boyd was named the first head of the newly created Physics Division of the Engineering Experiment Station (now known as the Georgia Tech Research Institute). Boyd recruited his former student Glen P. Robinson to the station. In late 1951, Robinson, station director Gerald Rosselot and Boyd helped start Scientific Associates (now Scientific Atlanta, part of Cisco) with $700 in seed money to produce and market antenna products that were developed at the station, as the station's leadership did not think Georgia Tech should be involved in the manufacturing business. Georgia Tech vice president Cherry Emerson believed that EES employees' affiliation with Scientific Atlanta constituted a conflict of interest and asked Boyd, Rosselot, and Robinson to choose between the two organizations. Boyd resigned from his post at Scientific Atlanta and remained with Georgia Tech, but chose to retain his position on Scientific Atlanta's Board of Directors. According to Robinson, "Dr. Boyd is really considered the founder of Scientific Atlanta." == Administrator ==

Experiment Station director , which was built in part due to Boyd's influence.|alt=The black and white photograph is of a large room that contains a lot of electronic equipment. The lower half of the image contains a cylindrical white container that is a nuclear reactor. There is a walkway at the top of the reactor, which leads back to a control room where two men are sitting. Boyd was promoted to Assistant Director of Research at the Engineering Experiment Station in 1954. He served as director of the station from July 1, 1957, until 1961. which argued that research should be integrated with education; Boyd applied this by involving undergraduates in his day-to-day research. Under Boyd's purview, the Engineering Experiment Station was awarded many electronics-related contracts, to the extent that an Electronics Division was created in 1959; it focused on radar and communications. The committee recommended the creation of a Radioisotopes Laboratory Facility and the construction of a large research reactor. The former was built and dedicated on January 7, 1959, and could receive, store, and process radioactive materials. In 1961, Boyd was succeeded in the directorship by Robert E. Stiemke, who had previously been the director of Georgia Tech's School of Civil Engineering. West Georgia College president Boyd became the third president of West Georgia College in 1961 after William H. Row died of a heart attack. Boyd is most known for his peaceful racial integration of the campus (without waiting for a court order) in 1963 by inviting a young black woman, Lillian Williams, to attend the college; she eventually earned two degrees in education and in 1985 received the college's highest honor, the Founder's Award. In May 1964, Boyd invited Robert F. Kennedy to the dedication of the campus chapel as the Kennedy Chapel, which was named after Robert's brother, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, who had been assassinated in November 1963. During his visit, Robert Kennedy promoted the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was then under debate in the United States Senate. Boyd dramatically expanded the college during his tenure, both in terms of headcount and academic diversity. Enrolment grew from 1,089 students upon his arrival in 1961 to 5,503 students on his departure in 1971. In 1959, there were two degrees and five programs available; in 1969–70 there were seven degrees and 45 programs. There were 94 graduate students in 1961; the first master's programs were offered in 1967, and by 1969 the number of graduate students had risen to 741. In 1969 alone, 80 new faculty members were hired, a number larger than the total number of faculty members a decade earlier. Several new buildings were constructed, including nine dormitories and five academic buildings. Policy changes occurred as well: in 1966, the curfew for junior and senior women was abolished, and fraternities and sororities were allowed on campus. In 1970, Boyd was named the University System of Georgia's first vice chancellor for academic development, effective once his successor (Emory graduate Ward B. Pafford) was appointed in 1971. == Georgia Tech president ==

In a little under a month after Boyd had assumed the vice chancellorship, then-Georgia Tech president Arthur G. Hansen resigned. Chancellor George L. Simpson appointed Boyd as Acting President of the Georgia Institute of Technology, a post he held from May 1971 to March 1972. Engineering Experiment Station Simpson's selection of Boyd as interim president was influenced by Boyd's previous experience as an academic administrator, his experience as director of the Engineering Experiment Station, and Boyd's ongoing position on the station's board of directors. The station had sizable and growing support from the state of Georgia and its Industrial Development Council, which developed products and methods and provided technical assistance for Georgia industry. However, due in part to efforts made by Boyd and previous station director Gerald Rosselot, the station increasingly relied on electronics research funding from the federal government. In 1971, funding to both Georgia Tech's academic units and the Experiment Station began to suffer due to a combination of a sharp decline in state funds and cuts to federal science, research, and education funding after the end of the Space Race funding boom. Thomas E. Stelson, Dean of the College of Engineering at Georgia Tech, was named to "reorganize" the station. Publicly, Stelson's task was simply to recommend a plan for reorganization, but the administration clearly intended for Georgia Tech and the Engineering Experiment Station to be closely integrated.--> This was the climate into which Boyd entered as interim institute president after Hansen had announced, on April 27, 1971, that he would be departing Georgia Tech to become president of Purdue University on July 1 of that year. As institute president, Boyd chaired the board of directors of the Georgia Tech Athletic Association, which had been suffering both in win percentage and in finances. Traditional sources of Athletic Association income, primarily ticket sales, had declined as a result of both the Yellow Jackets' poor record and the relatively recent establishment of professional football in Atlanta, namely the Atlanta Falcons. Bobby Dodd, then athletic director, had warned for years that Georgia Tech's rising academic standards and its limited curriculum would affect the athletic program. At a meeting on January 8, 1972, the Athletic Association board, led by Boyd, ignored a 42-page list of "charges" drafted by an alumnus, but nevertheless voted to not renew Carson's contract, making him the first Georgia Tech coach to be fired. The board also voted to not accept Bobby Dodd's resignation, which had been offered at the meeting. Carson went on to have a successful career, particularly with the Pittsburgh Steelers. On January 21, 1972, Boyd announced that Bill Fulcher had been selected as the new football head coach. == Retirement and legacy ==

Joseph M. Pettit was selected as the next president of Georgia Tech in March 1972, after which Boyd returned to his position as vice chancellor for academic development for the University System of Georgia. Boyd retired from professional life in 1974. Upon retirement, he was named an honorary member of Georgia Tech's ANAK Society. In 1997, the Georgia Board of Regents approved the naming and dedication of the math and physics building at the University of West Georgia as the "James E. Boyd Building". Two scholarships were created in his honor at the University of West Georgia; one for the top geology student, and one for a graduate of Bremen High School. Boyd died at the age of 91 on February 18, 1998, at his home in Carrollton, Georgia. The funeral was on February 20, 1998, at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Carrollton, and he was interred at Carrollton City Cemetery. == See also ==