TeraHertz pioneers: A series of interviews with significant contributors to teraHertz science and technology

As a tribute to individuals who have contributed significantly, and over many years, to the teraHertz community, and as a guide and inspiration for those who are just beginning their professional association with this field of study, these transactions have included, on a regular basis, a series of biographical interviews with technical researchers who have appreciably impacted the THz community in a positive manner. In order to go beyond a strict technical review and to take better advantage of the information and commentary only available through a direct discussion, these articles take on a less formal style than the research articles that can be found within the remaining pages of the transactions. The Editor-in-Chief (EiC) has taken some leeway in this regard, for the benefit of communicating more fully the character, experiences, and historic circumstances that have shaped our community and set the directions for our collective research. As a further means of assuring that the true flavor and circumstances of the contributions are expressed in the text, all of the articles are compiled after a face-to-face interview. The final text is shared with, and often helped considerably, by comments from the subject of the article. The EiC, with the support of the IEEE MTT Publications Committee, has chosen to incorporate these biographical articles within the more formal technical journal because of the diversity of disciplines that make up the THz community and the prior absence of a single unifying publication with sufficient outreach to extend across the whole of the RF and optical THz disciplines. The EiC hopes you will enjoy the short diversion of reading these articles as much as he himself enjoys the process of writing them.