John Guiry Endriz
Ph.D. Electrical Engineering
Dr. John Guiry Endriz is a distinguished physicist and engineer specializing in physical electronics and solid-state physics, with over 40 years of impactful contributions to advanced technologies in imaging, lasers, and semiconductor devices.
Born with an early aptitude for mathematics, Dr. Endriz initially considered majoring in the subject but discovered a passion for physical electronics during his undergraduate studies. He earned both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), followed by a Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1970, where he focused on semiconductors and surface physics.
His professional career began as a guest researcher in the Physics Department at Linköping University in Sweden from 1970 to 1972. Returning to the United States, he joined RCA Sarnoff Laboratories as a project manager involved in one of the nation's earliest flat-panel TV development initiatives.
In 1977, Dr. Endriz moved to the Varian Image Tube Division, where he served as operations manager of the Advanced Night Vision Operation and later as division engineering manager. Under his leadership, Varian became the leading company in introducing Generation III (GaAs-based) night vision technology—the current military standard for image intensifiers. Varian was the first to qualify this technology for military production and pioneered full-scale manufacturing using the revolutionary metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) process.
Following the completion of Varian's initial multi-year production contract in 1988, Dr. Endriz joined SDL, Inc. as engineering manager, advancing to executive vice president of engineering after SDL became an independent company in 1992. SDL pioneered high-power semiconductor lasers (GaAs-based) for applications in military, medical, printing, industrial, and communications sectors. These lasers transformed industries by enabling on-press laser-burned polymer typesetting (replacing traditional methods), powering multi-kilowatt fiber lasers with superior efficiencies, and serving as the dominant pump source for fiber-optic long-haul communications. Dr. Endriz retired from SDL just prior to its merger with JDS-Uniphase in 2000.
An accomplished inventor, Dr. Endriz holds 36 U.S. patents and has authored approximately 30 publications. Notably, in retirement, he has pursued charitable work focused on research into the causes of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), inspired by his late first wife's 42-year battle with the disease. Leveraging early connections in Sweden, he co-authored a significant 2017 neurology paper with Professor Larry Steinman of Stanford Medical School. The paper, drawing on male MS case data from the Karolinska Institute, demonstrated a consistent average delay between initial Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) infection and MS onset—providing compelling evidence that EBV is a necessary causal factor in MS, which Dr. Endriz regards as his most important contribution in this area.
Recognized for his lifetime achievements, Dr. Endriz received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020 and has been featured in approximately 35 editions of Marquis Who's Who publications, including Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, and Who's Who in the World. He is a member of the American Physical Society (APS), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Society for Information Display (SID), and SPIE.Dr. Endriz resides in Carmel Valley, California, with his wife, Nancy, where he continues his work as an electronics consultant and advocate for MS research.