In Memoriam

Davis Hartman

December 29, 1947 — March 24, 2026

Davis was an excellent scientist and patient teacher. He always made himself available to explain even the most complicated problems in thoughtful ways, and we greatly appreciated his good spirits and humor. Davis and Michael Lebby shaped much of our foundational technology strategy together, including our decision to focus on chips and sensors. We had the pleasure of working with Davis for more than 12 years.

Davis earned a B.S. in Physics at Upsala College before completing his Ph.D. at The University of Arizona in experimental high energy physics and experimental cosmic ray physics using the atmospheric Cerenkov technique. His postdoctoral research focused on the space borne cosmic ray physics of a VEGA 2 payload, which flew by Halley’s Comet in 1984, using TOFFIMS (now called a Neutral Gas Experiment).

Davis was a research scientist for Bell Laboratories and Bellcore (AKA Telcordia) before working with Motorola for nearly two decades as Engineering Manager, Technical Leader, then Director of Systems Technology Research. He explored the fundamental limits of electrical interconnections and set design goals for practical adaptation of the optical alternative. Davis led a team that developed acrylate based radiant cured polymer materials for patterned channel optical waveguide fabrication on electronic substrate materials.

While at Motorola, Davis also worked on the Pierre Auger Project, an international effort to study the highest energy cosmic rays. Under special assignment, he acted as research liaison between Dr. J. Cronin, University of Chicago Physics Department (Nobel Laureate), and Robert Galvin, former Motorola CEO and current Director Emeritus of the Motorola Board of Directors. Together, they designed a fixed wireless LAN data collection system for the Auger Project’s sixty-mile diameter extensive air shower detection system.

Davis worked as an independent consultant via Paladin Science/Engineering, a technical staff member of General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, and a payload architect with Orbital Sciences Corp. He published more than 50 technical articles, authored Quantum Void: The Mystery of Empty Space, and had 48 patents in topics covering systems design, circuit design, device design, and optoelectronic packaging.