English: John Robinson Pierce, the former director of research at AT&T Bell Telephone Laboratories. Born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1910, Pierce was the first to evaluate the various technical options in satellite communications and assess the financial prospects. In 1952, he published an article in Astounding Science Fiction in which he discussed the potential benefits of satellite communications. Coined the term "transistor", instrumental in the development of Telstar 1, and wrote science fiction under the nom de plume J.J. Coupling. A few years later, Pierce greatly assisted in the creation of the first artificial communication satellite, ECHO. Pierce died from pneumonia complications on April 2, 2002 at the age of 92.