Bernard Silver

{{Infobox person

| name = Bernard Silver

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = September 21, 1924

| birth_place =

| death_date = August 28, 1963 (aged 38)

| death_place = Pennsylvania, United States

| nationality = American

| burial_place = Roosevelt Memorial Park, Trevose, Bucks County, Pennsylvania

| other_names =

| known_for = Co-inventor of the barcode

| spouse = Phyllis Silver

| children = Barry Silver, Ronald Silver

| honours = National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductee

| alma_mater = Drexel University

| occupation =

}}

Bernard Silver (September 21, 1924 – August 28, 1963) was an electrical engineer and early developer of barcode technology alongside Norman Joseph Woodland.

Silver earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Drexel Institute of Technology in 1947.{{cite web| url =http://www.mem.drexel.edu/alumni/Joseph_Woodland.php| title = Dr. Joseph Woodland '47 (MEM), Hon. '98 Alumni| publisher =Drexel University| accessdate =2009-10-07}} In 1948 Silver paired with Norman Joseph Woodland to come up with an automated way to read product data after overhearing the conversation of a local grocery store president. Their initial results, a system of lines and circles based on Morse code, was replaced with a bulls eye pattern so it could be scanned from any direction.{{cite web |title=Barcodes Sweep the World |url=http://www.barcoding.com/information/barcode_history.shtml |work=Wonders of Modern Technology |first=Tony |last=Seideman |accessdate=2009-10-07 |archive-date=2016-09-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160903195245/http://www.barcoding.com/information/barcode_history.shtml |url-status=dead }} Silver and Woodland filed a patent for their system on October 20, 1949.{{cite patent|inventor-last=Silver |inventor-first=Bernard |inventor2-last=Woodland |inventor2-first=Norman Joseph |inventorlink2=Norman Joseph Woodland |publication-date=October 20, 1949 |issue-date=October 7, 1952. |title=Classifying Apparatus and Method |country-code=US |patent-number=2612994}} {{US Patent|2612994}} was granted on October 7, 1952.{{cite web|date=October 7, 2009|title=Bar Code: Its Origins, Why It's on Google & What's Next |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091007-bar-code-google-doodle-logo.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091009023443/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091007-bar-code-google-doodle-logo.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 9, 2009 |publisher=National Geographic News |first=Ker |last=Than |accessdate=2009-10-07}} "The two men eventually sold their patent to Philco for $15,000 — all they ever made from their invention."{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/business/n-joseph-woodland-inventor-of-the-bar-code-dies-at-91.html?hp|title=N. Joseph Woodland, Inventor of the Bar Code, Dies at 91|newspaper=The New York Times|date=13 December 2012|last1=Fox|first1=Margalit}}

During his career Silver served as a physics instructor at Drexel and as vice-president of Electro Nite Inc. He died August 28, 1963, of bronchopneumonia due to acute myelogenous leukemia{{cite web|title=Bernard Silver in the Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1963|url=http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=1&new=1&MSAV=0&gss=angs-g&gsfn=Bernard&gsln=Silver&msddy=1963&uidh=3wk&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=5774907&recoff=8+9&db=PADeathCollection&indiv=1&ml_rpos=3|website=ancestry.com|publisher=Ancestry.com|accessdate=2015-02-22}} at the age of 38.{{cite news|date=August 30, 1963|title=Bernard Silver |work=The New York Times |page=21}}{{cite web|date=March 9, 2009 |title=A Short History Of Bar Code |url=http://www.adams1.com/history.html |first=Russ |last=Adams |publisher=BarCode 1 |accessdate=2010-05-25}} In 2011 Silver, alongside Woodland, was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.{{cite web |year=2011 |title=Inventor Profile: Bernard Silver |url=http://invent.org/inductee-detail/?IID=454 |publisher=National Inventors Hall of Fame |accessdate=2015-01-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916213017/http://invent.org/inductee-detail/?IID=454 |archive-date=2016-09-16 |url-status=dead }}

Google featured a doodle of their logo as a barcode to recognize the anniversary of Bernard Silver at October 7, 2009.{{cite web|title=Bar code: invention history behind new Google doodle|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/6268827/Bar-code-invention-history-behind-new-Google-doodle.html|website=Telegraph.co.uk|date=7 October 2009 |publisher=Telegraph|accessdate=2016-11-03}}