In this issue, Electronic Design once again pays tribute to the EE profession by presenting the Class of 2003 inductees for the Engineering Hall Of Fame. These are the individuals you deemed most worthy to be honored with your online ballots. Following the 2003 Honor Roll, we shine the spotlight on six Hall Of Famers from both this year and last. Finally, we offer a fascinating and intriguing glimpse at the lifestyles of many of these living legends and how they continue to contribute to society and their profession.
Engineering Hall of Fame 2002 Inductees
Edwin Armstrong: radio's premier inventor, he created the electronic circuits that form the foundation of all modern radio, radar, and television technologies
John Backus: developed FORTRAN (mathematical FORmula TRANslating system), the programming language for the 704 computer, while at IBM
John M. Birkner and Hua-Thye Chua: co-developed programmable-array logic technology, the precursor to today's field-programmable logic technology
Paul Brokaw: invented the Brokaw cell, a bandgap voltage reference technique that resulted in monolithic voltage references
Hans Camenzind: designer of the 555 timer, the highest-volume IC
Vinton Cerf: co-developer of the TCP/IP protocol, the communications protocol that gave birth to the Internet
James H. Clark and Marc Andreessen: co-founders of Netscape Communications Corp., which pioneered the browser that opened up the Internet to the world
Seymour Cray: a computer design innovator and founder of Control Data Corp.
Bob Dobkin: co-founded Linear Technology Corp., developed the first three-terminal linear regulator and the fist bipolar LDO, and boosted the speed of early op amps
William Dubilier: founder of the Dubilier Co. and developer of the mica capacitor; holds over 355 patents in radio and electrical sciences; in 1933, the Dubilier Co. joined with Cornell Electric Manufacturing to form Cornell Dubilier Electric
J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly: invented the first true general-purpose computer
Thomas Edison: invented the incandescent electric lamp, the phonograph, the motion-picture projector, the alkaline storage battery, and over 1000 other inventions
John M. Fluke Sr.: launched John Fluke Engineering Co. in his basement, which introduced a unique power meter and the differential voltmeter
Dave Fullagar: developed the first compensated operational amplifier, the 741, easing the use of op amps in analog design
Barrie Gilbert: developed the translinear principle, which is utilized within numerous analog ICs, and the Gilbert-cell mixer, which is now ubiquitous in wireless systems
Bernard M. Gordon: developed the core technology for high-speed analog-to-digital conversion and pioneered instant-imaging CT scanning systems
Andrew S. Grove: co-founder of Intel Corp., now the world's largest semiconductor company
William R. Hewlett and David Packard: co-founders of Hewlett-Packard Corp.
Marcian (Ted) Hoff: developed the 4004, the first commercial microprocessor
Grace Hopper: developed Cobol (Common Business Oriented Language)
Charles House: recognized as the father of the logic analyzer
Walt Jung: audio guru and well-known prolific author, especially for definitive texts about op amps
Charles Kao: invented optical fibers and fiber-optic communications
Jack Kilby: invented the integrated circuit (an oscillator on a germanium substrate) while at Texas Instruments
Gary Kildall: developed a programming language called PL/M, which he later used to form Digital Research Inc., and a control program, CP/M, for the Intel 8080
Hedy Lamarr: famous Hollywood movie star who patented spread-spectrum technology, which makes radio signals invulnerable to interference or jamming; this technology has only recently come to fruition with the advent of digital communications
Bob Mammano: developed the first PWM controller in 1974
Guglielmo Marconi: invented wireless telegraphy and radio communications
Carver Mead and Lynn Conway: co-authored Introduction to VLSI Systems, foreshadowing today's still-evolving SoC design methodologies