 |
|
| Martin Pope | |
Martin Pope, co-founder of the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, died March 27. He was 103. Pope and Keats created the EJK Foundation in 1962. When Keats died in 1983, his will directed that the royalties from his books go to the foundation, "to do good."
Deborah Pope, executive director of the foundation, noted that "Martin and Lillie Pope, his dear friends and my parents, made sure it did. It was Martin, my father, and Lillie, my mother, an educational psychologist devoted to teaching reading to those whose learning styles or life's circumstances made it difficult, who made the programs that today define the work of the foundation; the Ezra Jack Keats Awards, the EJK Bookmaking Competition and the EJK Mini-Grant program, all of which continue to move the mission of the foundation forward."
She added that Pope "was a great man in his own right. His scientific discoveries made possible, among other things, the advances in the technology behind all OLED displays, and most importantly, more efficient solar panels.... Martin and Ezra grew up in poor immigrant families, surrounded by a world saturated by bigotry and prejudice, believing that they would not be allowed to pursue any of their dreams. They were very lucky to have been wrong. Each in his own way, changed the world."
A physical chemist by profession, Pope's "fundamental work on molecular semiconductors more than 60 years ago led to the development of organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs, which are used in digital cameras, mobile phones, solar panels and televisions," the New York Times reported, adding that his "insight into some of the strange quantum mechanical phenomena shown by tetracene also turned out to be well ahead of its time."
Pope wrote (with Charles E. Swenberg) Electronic Processes in Organic Crystals and Polymers, which was first published in 1982, and at more than 1,300 pages remains the principal reference in the field of organic semiconductors.