Samuel Ruben

Born in Harrison, New Jersey to a Jewish family, Samuel Ruben got his start in electronics when he became a licensed ham radio operator and built radios with spare parts. He had no college degree, withdrawing from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn after a few years due to stress. Samuel Ruben met professor Bergen Davis of Columbia University who tutored him and allowed him to sit in on some Columbia classes. He later returned as a research student at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. Ruben received several honorary degrees. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree from his alma mater Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, as well as from Columbia University in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Science where he served as a Senior Staff Associate, and Butler University. He also taught at Harvard as a lecturer in chemistry. He endowed a scholarship for Chemical Engineering at Polytechnic (1968–1972).