Road to the scientific peaks
Danielius Eidukas was born on 21 July 1932 in the village of Pilkeniai, Utena District, Tauragnai Volost, in the family of farmers Juozas and Veronika Eidukai, who had five children. He attended Tauragnai Primary School, Tauragnai Pro-Gymnasium and Utena 1st Gymnasium, from which he graduated with a silver medal. In 1952, he was admitted to the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of Kaunas Polytechnic Institute to study radio engineering. In the 5th year of his studies, he worked as a laboratory assistant at the Department of Radioelectronics. He graduated from the institute with honours in 1957.
In 1957-1959, D. Eidukas worked as an engineer at Vilnius Research Institute of Radio Measurement Devices. In 1959, he was transferred to Kaunas, where he worked as an engineer, head of the laboratory and head of the department. In the autumn of 1959, he became a doctoral student at the Department of Physics of KPI, and in 1961, he began teaching at the Department of Physics. In 1963, he defended his thesis “Transitional Processes in Semiconductor Diodes and the Measurement Equipment Required for Their Research” obtaining the degree of candidate (now doctor) of physics and mathematics. The thesis was supervised by Prof. K. Baršauskas. In 1966, D. Eidukas moved to work at Kaunas Research Institute of Radio Measurement Equipment as head of the department, where he began a new line of work based on his dissertation research: the research of transitional processes in semiconductor devices. In 1970, he defended his thesis “Analysis and Research of Transitional Processes in Semiconductor Devices in the Subnanosecond Range” and obtained the degree of doctor (now habilitated doctor) of technological sciences. In 1971, he won a competition and was elected to the position of professor-head of the department.
From 1961, D. Eidukas also worked as an hourly-paid teacher at Kaunas Polytechnic Institute. From 1961 to 1972, he taught a course in general physics at the Department of Physics. In 1969, the Department of Radio Equipment Construction was established at KPI. In 1972, D. Eidukas became the head of this department and was awarded the title of Professor in the same year. He held this position until the end of 1988. In this department, he taught the fundamentals of metrology, the design of information measurement systems, electrical measurements, and scientific experimentation. At the same time, Prof. Eidukas was a consultant professor and supernumerary scientific secretary of Kaunas Research Institute of Radio Measurement Technology. In 1973, Prof. D. Eidukas was awarded the Republican Prize of the Lithuanian SSR for his research work. In 1976, he became a corresponding member of the Lithuanian SSR Academy of Sciences. He summarised his research in 2 monographs; the monograph “Measurement of Parameters of Discrete Integral Circuits” was published in 1982 and it was the first in the Soviet Union on this subject. Prof. D. Eidukas edited scientific journals “Measurement Equipment”, “Radioelectronics” and “Radio Engineering Issues”, and was a member of the Presidium of the Scientific-Methodical Council of Radioelectronics of the Ministry of Higher Education of the USSR, the Council of Problem Ultrasound Technology at the Scientific-Methodological Council of the Lithuanian SSR Academy of Sciences, the Committee of the Republican Prizes of the Lithuanian SSR and various methodological commissions, and the organiser of scientific conferences and symposiums. In 1980, he was awarded the title of Honoured Teacher of the USSR, and in 1984, he was awarded the title of the Scientist and Technologist of the Lithuanian SSR. Since 1989, D. Eidukas was working in the same position as the professor in the department.
