Bern Dibner

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Bern Dibner (1897 – 1988) was an electrical engineer, industrialist, and historian of science and technology.

Dibner was born near Kiev, Ukraine in 1897. He moved to the United States with his family at the age of 7. In 1921, he graduated from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn with a degree in Electrical Engineering. Soon after graduating, he designed and patented the first solderless electrical connectors and founded the Burndy Engineering Company in 1924. The company later became the Burndy Company and was eventually bought by the French corporation Framatome Connectors International (FCI).

In addition to electrical engineering, Dibner studied the history of technology. He was an avid collector of original scientific works and of books on the history of science. He established the Burndy Library in 1941 to house his collection, which also contains thousands of portraits of various scientists.

The "Burndy" appellation, used for both his company and library, was invented by Dibner himself and represents a portmanteau or blend of his first and last names.