Robert L. White

With great sadness, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering notes that Robert L. White, the William E. Ayer Professor of Electrical Engineering, Emeritus, and an expert on magnetism who helped develop a medical diagnostic and an implantable hearing device, died December 10, 2023. He was 96.

Professor White served as chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering from 1981 to 1986 and as director of the Exploratorium, the interactive science and arts museum in San Francisco, from 1987 to 1989. From 1991 to 2003, he was director of Stanford Center for Research on Information Storage Materials, established to encourage collaborative research between Stanford and the magnetic disk industry.

“He was always full of ideas and insights,” said Bruce Clemens, the Walter B. Reinhold Professor in the School of Engineering, Emeritus, who collaborated with White at the center. “He enjoyed a good turn of phrase and was full of great sayings and aphorisms.”

One such maxim, Clemens recalled, was: “All ideas seem like good ideas in their first 15 seconds of life.”

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering extends our deepest condolences to his family, friends, colleagues, and students.

You can view Professor White's full obituary in the Stanford School of Engineering Magazine here.