Obituary:
Georges Goldberg, recipient of
the IEC Lord Kelvin Award

Georges Goldberg was a pioneer in the field
of EMC standardization

Georges Goldberg, a renowned EMC (electromagnetic compatibility) expert, died on 5 September 2009 at the age of 86.

Goldberg spent his long career actively involved in EMC standardization. A member of the Swiss National Committee on EMC for more than 20 years, he held a number of IEC positions, including Chair of TC (Technical Committee) 77: Electromagnetic compatibility, from 1985 to 1994, and of ACEC (Advisory Committee on Electromagnetic Compatibility) from 1992 to 1996.

After his retirement, Goldberg remained an active participant in IEC work as Convenor of the former WG (Working Group) 14: Functional safety, of TC 77, now MT (Maintenance Team) 15: Maintenance on IEC/TS 61000-1-2 - EMC and Functional Safety. He was also a member of ACEC.

He was instrumental in developing the structure of IEC International Standards (basic, generic and product standards), notably in the IEC 61000 series on EMC. During his chairmanship of TC 77, he reorganized the structure of the committee, adopting a phenomena/experts orientation. He also initiated new fields of work, such as power quality, measurement technique with regards to human exposure to EM fields (low frequencies and high frequencies) and EMC and functional safety.

In recognition of his outstanding contribution to global electrotechnical standardization over many years, Goldberg was the sole recipient in 2000 of the prestigious IEC Lord Kelvin Award.

After graduating from ETH Zurich, the Federal School of Technology in Zürich, as an electrical engineer, Goldberg worked predominantly in the fields of telecontrol and telecommunications in power networks.

Among the various other positions that he occupied during his career with the IEC were:

• Convenor, TC 77/WG 3 (Immunity Tests)
• Acting Chairman, SC (Subcommittee) 77B: High Frequency Phenomena
• Convenor of the ACEC Task Force "Human exposure" in preparation of a programme of work in this field in cooperation with CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization, WHO (World Health Organization), ICNIRP (International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, ITU (International Telecommunication Union) and other organizations
• Delegate of the Swiss National Committee and IEC Observer to CENELEC/TC210 (Electromagnetic Compatibility)

Goldberg was also active in organizing IEC seminars on EMC and gave many presentations of IEC work in EMC symposiums.

One of his contemporaries, Michel Ianoz, former SC 77B Chairman and ACEC member, said, "Goldberg was not only a colleague, with whom I had fruitful and exciting exchanges on various EMC problems. He was also a dear friend. We met often in Switzerland and in different parts of the world. [His] company was unforgettable due to his curiosity for new developments […] and in particular for his extraordinary sense of humour.”