technology software electronics computer hardware it consulting headquarters 201 washington rd princeton new jersey area served worldwide key people william a. jeffrey president and ceo of sri mark a. clifton 1 last ceo of sarnoff corporation general manager of sri princeton services research parent sri international website http www.sarnoff.com sarnoff corporation with headquarters in west windsor township new jersey though with a princeton address was a research and development company specializing in vision video and semiconductor technology . it was named for david sarnoff the longtime leader of rca and nbc . the cornerstone of sarnoff corporation s david sarnoff research center in the princeton vicinity was laid just before the attack on pearl harbor in 1941 . that facility later sarnoff corporation headquarters was the site of several historic developments notably color television cmos integrated circuit technology electron microscopy and many other important technologies affecting everyday life worldwide . following 47 years as a central research laboratory for its corporate owner rca and briefly for successor ge as rca laboratories in 1988 the david sarnoff research center was transitioned to sarnoff corporation a wholly owned subsidiary of sri international . in january 2011 sarnoff corporation was integrated into its parent company sri international and continues to engage in similar research and development activities at the princeton new jersey facility . 2 3 contents 1 science and technology 2 corporate history 3 facility 4 library 5 references 6 external links science and technology edit david sarnoff with the first rca videotape machine in 1954 to date two historic technology developments among many that took place at rca laboratories have been recognized by the ieee history center milestone program . 4 the ieee milestones in electrical engineering and computing program honors significant technical achievements in areas associated with ieee . these two are the 1946 1953 invention of monochrome compatible electronic color television and the 1968 invention of the liquid crystal display . 5 6 beginning in the 1940s key aspects of thin film technology were developed at the rca laboratories . thin film technology including evaporation of thin metal and dielectric materials in a vacuum to coat a surface was first developed intensively for photoemissive surfaces required for television camera technologies under development at rca since the 1930s . it was later applied to semiconductor fabrication process development leading in part to the historic growth of solid state electronics . in the mid 1950s while working at the rca laboratories herbert kroemer developed key aspects of his theories of heterostructure physics for which he was a co recipient of the nobel prize in physics . 7 other pioneering and historic technology developments attributable to the rca laboratories and sarnoff corporation s david sarnoff research center include development of the electron microscope the photon counting photomultiplier the ccd imager cmos integrated circuit technology and early optoelectronic components such as lasers and leds . corporate history edit elmer engstrom director of rca laboratories and later president and ceo although the facility existed under the name david sarnoff research center for many years sarnoff corporation was only created as an independently operating business following the purchase by general electric ge of rca in the late 1980s . the context was rca s write off of 100m s of investment in capacitive pickup videodisc technology . rca s selectavision offering was overtaken by the videocassette recorder which allowed recording in addition to playback offered by selectavision disks . this 1983 product failure affected rca stock at a time when equities markets were advancing strongly thus paving the way for a ge takeover . in the deal in which ge gained ownership of nbc rca was broken up . ge s jack welch disposed of diverse rca operating businesses . lockheed martin acquired rca s government systems unit in the philadelphia area . harris corporation acquired rca s semiconductor division located along route 202 in new jersey . thomson sa the french company acquired rca s consumer electronics division with manufacturing activities in indianapolis in and lancaster pa . regarding the rca david sarnoff research center ge did not require an augmentation of ge labs in schenectady and syracuse ny . in the regional community interest was expressed in establishing an east coast silicon valley in which the princeton nj david sarnoff research center could play a role . a late 1950s antitrust consent decree had required rca to provide low cost licenses for consumer electronics technology largely television related to domestic u.s. competitors . rca had however monetized its intellectual property by selling additional licenses internationally . the david sarnoff research center had continued to provide support to clients to further the inventions described in these patents and ge wished to maintain these activities of the david sarnoff research center to service the very considerable sizable licensing activity that it acquired along with rca . to address this need ge engaged non profit sri international as an independent third party . ultimately in 1986 ge accepted an sri international proposal that it acquire the david sarnoff research center by donation along with sufficient operating funds to maintain the activity for several years . in fact the patent licensing revenues associated with rca television technologies significantly exceeded operating costs . ge retained the excess and the david sarnoff research center continue to support the licenses and ensured they maintained their value . a provision of the divestiture was that should the organization not be profitable five years after it was emancipated from ge its land nearly 300 acres 1.2 km2 of valuable property would revert to ge . sarnoff was able to attain profitability and the deed was transferred to sarnoff corporation around 1995 . a sizable part of the workforce was reduced by a layoff during the dot com bust reduced the amount of venture capital available ; the company had 800 employees in 2001 and 540 in 2006 . 8 at the beginning of 2011 sarnoff corporation merged with sri ceasing to exist as an independent company . 2 facility edit the sarnoff corporation princeton nj facility includes the historic david sarnoff research center formerly the central research laboratory of rca corporation . although located adjacent to princeton university the two are not and have not been directly affiliated . library edit between 1967 and 2010 the david sarnoff research center housed exhibits and archives in the david sarnoff library which was constructed by rca to display longtime rca leader and labs namesake david sarnoff s history . 9 later contributions by rca staff and collectors highlighted pioneering electronic and broadcast radio and television innovations at rca and its laboratories . these were owned and administered by a 501 c 3 nonprofit board of directors . in 2009 in response to the changing missions of the company and the library 10 11 the latter s board voted to transfer the bulk of its exhibits to the college of new jersey 12 13 and the bulk of its archival collections to the hagley museum and library in wilmington delaware . some artifacts and the rca broadcast division manuals collection were transferred to the infoage science history learning center ; some products of the rca victor division in camden new jersey were transferred to the camden county historical society ; 14 and a 1946 rca victor 630 ts was transferred to the new jersey state museum . references edit mark a. clifton . sri international . retrieved 2013 07 01 . a b sri international completes integration of sarnoff corporation . sri press release . january 3 2011 . sri international sarnoff . sri international . archived from the original on 2012 02 06 . retrieved 2012 04 22 . list of ieee milestones . ieee global history network . ieee . retrieved 3 august 2011 . milestones monochrome compatible electronic color television 1946 1953 . global history network . ieee . retrieved 2012 04 22 . milestones liquid crystal display 1968 . global history network . ieee . retrieved 2012 04 22 . the nobel prize in physics 2000 zhores i. alferov herbert kroemer jack s. kilby . nobel prize . retrieved 2012 04 22 . carnes leaves retirement to head sarnoff corp. . u.s. 1 . 2006 08 16 . retrieved 2012 04 22 . david sarnoff library . retrieved 2012 04 23 . time marches on sarnoff museum must go . retrieved 2013 01 09 . saying so long to the sarnoff library . retrieved 2013 01 09 . sarnoff museum may find a home yet . retrieved 2013 01 09 . sarnoff library artifacts find a new home . retrieved 2013 01 09 . three years later . retrieved 2013 01 09 . external links edit official website v t e princeton new jersey areas historic districts princeton historic district stony brook village jugtown king s highway kingston mill mountain avenue former municipalities borough of princeton princeton township education public schools princeton public schools princeton high school witherspoon street school for colored children defunct princeton charter school independent schools hun school lewis school princeton academy of the sacred heart princeton day princeton friends princeton international school of mathematics and science st. paul s stuart country day colleges and universities princeton university princeton theological seminary westminster choir college evelyn college for women defunct other education institute for advanced study princeton community japanese language school princeton public library princeton university art museum witherspoon institute other places of worship miller chapel nassau christian center nassau presbyterian princeton united methodist princeton university chapel stone hill church stony brook meeting house trinity episcopal parks and recreation delaware and raritan canal herrontown woods arboretum jasna polana lake carnegie marquand park mountain lakes preserve princeton battlefield shopping and dining nassau street palmer square elements hoagie haven nassau club nassau inn peacock inn princeton record exchange triumph brewing performing arts mccarter theatre alexander hall princeton symphony orchestra williamson voices media i grew up in princeton comedy minus one princeton community television princeton packet town topics other landmarks albert einstein house drumthwacket joseph henry house donald grant herring estate maclean house maybury hill mercer oak morven nassau hall princeton battle monument princeton cemetery princeton railroad station prospect house tusculum cottage club washington oak westland mansion princeton addressed landmarks outside the municipality american boychoir school chapin school educational testing service forrestal village marketfair mall princeton airport princeton plasma physics laboratory robert wood johnson foundation st. joseph s seminary in plainsboro ; defunct sarnoff corporation terhune orchards washington road elm all e see also princeton university and national register of historic places listings in mercer county new jersey retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title sarnoff corporation & oldid 743512437 categories electronics companies of the united statessri internationalresearch and development in the united statessemiconductor companies of the united statessoftware companies based in new jerseycompanies based in princeton new jerseywest windsor township new jerseyamerican companies established in 1988computer companies established in 1988electronics companies established in 1988technology companies disestablished in 19881988 establishments in new jerseycomputer related introductions in 1988rcahidden categories pages using infobox 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