Israel "Jake" Jacobs

Jacobs, Israel "Jake" NISKAYUNA Israel "Jake" S. Jacobs of Niskayuna, N.Y. died peacefully on August 4, 2010 from a brief battle with cancer. Jake was born in 1925 in Buffalo, N.Y. He graduated from college at the University of Michigan with a B.S. in physics and earned a PH.d in physics from the University of Chicago. Jake met and married his wife Judy while both were graduate students at Chicago. Jake's professional career spanned 55 years at General Electric Center for Research and Development in Niskayuna, N.Y., continuing as recently as May of this year. Jake also served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. His scientific research on magnetic materials defined the physics known as superparamag-netism and is routinely cited in textbooks. Jake's work contributed to many technologies, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in health care, super-conductors, and tools for removing sulfur from coal and the reducing the resulting air pollution. Another area of Jake's research has been prominently applied in national defense. He published over 100 technical papers, five patents and gave over 100 technical talks in the U.S. and overseas. He was a fellow of the American Physical Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and the American Academy Advancement of Science, and served on many committees and editorial boards in the scientific community. In 1982, he was named a Coolidge Fellow of the GE Center for Research and Development, the highest award given by the Center. Jake used his prominence in science to support the development of other scientists. He recruited younger staff to GE in Schenectady, and he was a co-founder of the R&D Center's Visiting Research Fellowship program to bring university scientists from around the world to work alongside staff in Niskayuna for up to a year. Jake was a visiting scientist at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Grenoble, France, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the National Magnet Laboratory and the Bordeaux University Center in France. Jake also brought energy and leadership to support his local and religious community throughout his life, even to the very end. He sought to strengthen the network, education and development of girls and young women in the Capital District through Girls Inc., eventually becoming the treasurer of the Gifts Board of Trustees. He was active in local Democratic politics and served as president of the Schenectady Jewish Community Council in the 1970s. He traveled to Eastern Europe and Russia to assist scientific exchanges and also advocated for better treatment of Jewish scientists in the Soviet Union, before the end of Communism in that region. Jake and Judy, his wife of 50 years, were active supporters of the cultural community in Schenectady. They led by example in many ways, most memorably perhaps in the later years of Judy's life, when Jake would bring her to the same seats at the Union College classical music performances at Memorial Chapel. Jake is survived by daughter, Eve Jacobs-Carnahan of Montpelier, Vt.; son, Mike Jacobs of Washington, D.C.; grandchildren, Rachel, Abigail, Sarah, Noah and Sophie. A service will be held at Congregation Agudat Achim in Schenectady in the next few days. Friends and family are invited to the Jacobs townhouse that evening and on the following evening. Contributions in Jake's memory (in lieu of flowers) may be made to Girls Inc. of the Greater Capital Region, 976 Albany Street, Schenectady NY, 12307.