Otis Boykin

Inventor and scientist

• Born: August 29, 1920
• Birthplace: Dallas, Texas
• Died: March 1, 1982
• Place of death: Chicago, Illinois

Best known for the invention of a control unit for artificial heart pacemakers, Boykin also devised many different electronic devices that improved radios, televisions, guided missiles, and computers. Overall, he invented more than two dozen electronic devices, some of which still are used worldwide.

Early Life

Otis Frank Boykin was born on August 29, 1920, in Dallas, Texas, to Sarah Cox and Walter Benjamin Boykin. His mother was a homemaker, and his father was a carpenter. He graduated from high school and attended the historically African American Fisk College in Nashville, Tennessee.

Boykin graduated from Fisk in 1941 and was hired as a laboratory assistant for the Majestic Radio and TV Corporation in Chicago, Illinois. While his work at this company varied, Boykin excelled at testing automatic aircraft controls, and his ingenuity and hard work were rewarded by promotion to a supervisory position.

Boykin left the Majestic Corporation in 1944 to work as a research engineer with P. J. Nilsen Research Laboratories. In 1946, Boykin left P. J. Nilsen to start his own company, Boykin-Fruth Incorporated. While operating his own business, Boykin decided to further his education by attending graduate courses at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Even though he attended classes from 1946 to 1947, Boykin was forced to drop out before completing his master’s degree because he lacked sufficient funds to pay for tuition.

Life’s Work

Undaunted by his inability to finish graduate school, Boykin embarked on a career as an inventor of electronic devices. Electronics was a popular field among scientists at this time, and Boykin had several ideas. He focused on the development of a device called a resistor. Resistors control the amount of electrical current in a circuit so that the unit can operate properly. This makes resistors some of the most important safety devices in electronics, because unregulated current can destroy or seriously damage electronic parts.

Boykin’s creativity and ingenuity served him well, and on June 16, 1959, he received his first patent for a wire precision resistor. Roughly two years later, Boykin received another patent, for an electrical resistor and the methods for manufacturing it. This resistor could be manufactured quite inexpensively and could withstand extreme pressures and temperature changes without malfunctioning. This low-cost, highly efficient product catapulted Boykin to the forefront of American electronics. The United States military used Boykin’s resistor in guided missiles, IBM ordered thousands of them for its computers, and manufacturers of consumer electronic devices used them as well. Perhaps the most famous use of Boykin’s resistors was in artificial pacemakers. Boykin’s resistor protected the pacemaker from receiving excessive amounts of electrical current from its generator, which would destroy it.

During his lifetime, Boykin received a total of eleven patents. His inventions included several electrical resistance elements and electrical capacitors, and in some cases, the plans for mass-producing these items.

Boykin moved to Paris, France, in 1964 and continued to invent electronic devices for customers. His inventions included electrical resistance components, which included variable resistors that were used in guided missiles and thick film resistors that were used in computers. Two other inventions of his that were never produced were a burglar-proof cash register and a chemical air filter. He also worked as a consultant for American and European electronics companies. After his European stint, Boykin returned to the United States. He died of heart failure in Chicago in March, 1982.

Significance

Although he is best known for his role in developing artificial pacemakers, Boykin also invented devices that were used in radios, television sets, and a whole host of electronic devices that were mass-produced and became cheaper after World War II. His electrical resistors also made the advent of the digital age possible by allowing devices to use more electrical power without burning out. Because such devices could tolerate a greater influx of electrical current at higher voltage, they could perform at a higher level and execute more sophisticated tasks.

Bibliography

Marché, Wina. African American Achievers in Science, Medicine, and Technology: A Resource Book for Young Learners, Parents, Teachers, and Librarians. Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, 2003. A series of short vignettes on male and female African American physicians, inventors, and scientists who pioneered the technological and scientific revolution during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries despite the environment of discrimination they faced. The section on Boykin is brief but informative.

Taborn, Tyrone D. “Separating Race from Technology: Finding Tomorrow’s IT Progress in the Past.” In Learning Race and Ethnicity: Youth and Digital Media, edited by Anna Everett. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2008. A whirlwind tour of African American contributions and interest in science and technology, and how public policy can increase African American contributions to science. Its section on Boykin is short but significant.

Van Sertima, Ivan, ed. Blacks in Science: Ancient and Modern. Piscataway, N.J.: Transaction, 1983. Idiosyncratic but interesting and useful summary of the contributions of Africans and African Americans to science. Boykin is mentioned several times.