14th November 2024
ICES AdCom At Large member and Electrostimulation Expert J. Patrick Reilly has passed away
J. Patrick Reilly died on October 28, 2024 in Silver Spring, Maryland at the age of 87. Pat received the BEE degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Detroit in 1962, and the MSE degree in Electrical Engineering and Applied Science from the George Washington University in 1966. He retired in 2011 from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), where he performed research in a variety of disciplines, including theoretical and experimental work in bioelectricity. Other fields of research while in a 50-year career at APL include: electromagnetic interactions with the natural environment; signal processing; radar, underwater acoustics; human acoustic perception; infrared technology; and the Transit Navigation System – the precursor of modern satellite navigation.
As president of Metatec Associates, which he founded in 1986, he conducted research and consulting related to bioelectric phenomena, bioelectric devices, and electrical and electromagnetic safety. In this role, he consulted with international federal, state, and private agencies concerning exposure to electric current and electromagnetic fields, including analysis of bioelectric therapy and diagnosis, electrical safety, and forensic science.
He is the author or co-author of over 160 publications, including one book on radar, and three on bioelectric phenomena and electrical safety. His book: Applied Bioelectricity, is a standard reference in the field of electrostimulation, with applications to electroceuticals and electrical safety. His latest technical book, Electrostimulation: Theory, Applications, and Computational Model (Artech House, 2011) includes a user’s guide to the SENN (Spatially Extended Nonlinear Node) neural stimulation model, which has had widespread applications since its development in the 1970s. As a music lover and an excellent harmonica player, Pat published in 2012 a memoir, Snake Music, through Lulu Press, Inc.
He was elected Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) in 1998. Pat was a key contributor to the electrostimulation aspect of the ICES electromagnetic safety standards. He was the principal author of IEEE Standard C95.6, published by the IEEE’s International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety (ICES) in 2002. ICES acknowledged Pat for his major contributions to that standard. Similar effort on electrostimulation was accomplished for the NATO military standard IEEE C95.1-2345-2014. Both C95.6, and C95.1-2345 standards have been incorporated into the current IEEE Standard C95.1-2019. Pat was elected to serve as an At Large member of the ICES AdCom since 2013.
In 2017, Pat was awarded the prestigious D’Arsonval Award of the Bioelectromagnetics Society for his contributions in 2018. The award was conferred in Montpellier, France in 2019.
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