The Analog Greats that shaped Electronics
I remember when I first started formally designing circuits in the early 80s and they were primarily analog although there was a fair amount of microprocessors (the 6502 and 6800 family as well as the Z80).
In those times there was no internet for an instant explanation of a circuit and manufacturers databooks were expensive unless you worked for a company that bought a lot of parts. Yes, there were good books around (and some not so good) and they were even in public libraries.
My first formal book on electronics (which defined electronics as a subset of radio!) was issued to me by the Royal Navy and was published in 1956. The solid state rectifiers in the book were Selenium based and the book waxed lyrical about the wonders of these devices. As a side note, my first motorcycle was a BSA Bantam and indeed had selenium rectifiers for DC power.
But my focus here is on the greats who really made the industry what it is today and it all starts with Analog. One of my favourite signatures as seen on Usenet was "There is no such thing as a digital signal. EMC testing proves this daily".
Want to design a high speed system? Need a really low noise sensor in a digital environment? Want to transmit digitised video across a cable? Then you had better understand a lot of analog for these and many more.
The chap at the top is one of the all time greats, Bob Pease, who was the staff scientist at National Semiconductor. He demonstrates what I have said for many years about electronics design; it is where art meets technology.
It would take many days or weeks to go into the impact Bob had on the electronics industry but for decades he was at the heart of it (along with his love of Nepal). He designed a lot of parts we take for granted today (the LM337 linear regulator for example) and numerous opamps to mention just a couple of the things he did. He was also the self designated Czar of bandgaps.
He was a prolific author of application note and articles (I always enjoyed his What all this... series).
Here is another of the Analog greats; Jim Williams of Linear Technology. Apart from being a guru of electronics he was a master of the art of storytelling and a prolific author of application notes. It is hard to gauge the tremendous impact his articles and application notes had on the industry; he literally made the art of switch mode power supply design accessible to everybody (among many other things). He also co-authored and edited two incredible books on analog design. There are few better places to start if you really want to understand analog design.
Jim worked closely with Bob Dobkin over the years. Bob was a co-founder of Linear Technology, itself one of the most influential companies in electronics (it was acquired by Analog Devices a few years ago).
It would not be anywhere close to complete to not mention the next pioneer of analog silicon; Bob Widlar.
In the above picture, he is with the prototype for the LM10, a groundbreaking amplifier; he also designed (and patented) the Widlar current source which featured in many of his designs. Bob was a very colourful character (to use a politically correct term) and in today's work atmosphere we are unlikely to ever see another like him which is a shame; electronics would be years behind but for him.
Then there are books. Apart from the books edited by Jim Williams above, The Art of Electronics (which I acquired in 1982 / 1983, first edition) was and remains a seminal book on electronics. I have the third edition on my bookshelf and it still has relevance today.
For high speed design, the books by Howard Johnson are really hard to beat. Thorough, well written and precise, they are essential for anyone who wants to design really high speed systems. His website has a wealth of articles written over the years that are all highly informative.
There are so many resources available today with many reference designs but beware; borrow a schematic without understanding the inner details and you are on a hiding to nothing.
There are many not mentioned here but that is simply due to space (and time); which of the greats influenced your design career?
Put names in the comments.
To the future of electronics (only possible because of the greats of the past and present in some cases).
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4 年I had the privilege of sitting through a lecture by Bob Pease. Despite this being in the early 2000’s he insisted on using analogue PowerPoint for the lecture which consisted of an old overhead projector a long reel of acetate and a pen. It was one of the most engaging lectures I’ve sat through.
Staff Applications Engineer at Analog Devices
4 年I remember the first time I saw Jim Williams. I was in LTC HQ back in 2010. He came into the FAE conference and took one of the only seats that was left, at the side of the room. He did not have a commanding stature, he was wearing an old pair of shorts, he had a day book crammed with bits of paper and a calculator that was about one inch thick (probably with an LED display). Nobody noticed he had arrived. Sat in front of me was one of the world’s greatest electronics experts. Then he got up to speak. His voice was soft and far from authoritative. However….. you could have heard a pin drop. He had 100 engineers hanging on his every word. An amazing speaker and very talented engineer and author. In the words of Bob Dobkin, he was a poet and his language was electronics. The electronics world is a poorer place without him.
(Cert.Dir)? Country Manager at Habasit Non-executive Director
4 年Nice trip down memory lane.
Airspeed
4 年Interesting article. Electronics is indeed and art and a craft as much as a science. Most formal education on the subject focusses on the theory, probably because those teaching it have never left university. The likes of Pease and Williams have shown many that one’s education really starts at the bench. I most admire people who can explain complex concepts in a straightforward way. For EMC – Henry Ott. I also really like Robert Lacoste, who writes for circuit cellar. He’s done some really practical demonstrations for things like digital signal processing, etc. Unfortunately big corp isn’t built around engineering rockstars, like Pease, anymore. I doubt they’d get past the competency based interviews. I think the new generation of technical ‘Czars’ is emerging on new media channels such as Youtube. If you want to learn how to actually do stuff, I think Youtube is bloody brilliant. For RF stuff – ‘w2aew’ helped me get a practical handle on using smith charts, IQ modulation etc. This guy’s channel is brilliant. And obviously Dave Jones if, like me, you enjoy watching aussies prodding around inside power supplies. ‘Tubalcain’ for operating a lathe, ‘sentdex’ for building Neural Networks… Heroes are being made in new ways.
Mentor Specialist, Power & Analogue at Thales Integrated Airspace Protection Systems.
4 年And the late Bob Middlebrook