Professor Carver Andress Mead (born 1 May 1934, in Bakersfield, California) is a prominent U.S. computer scientist. He is the Gordon and Betty Moore professor emeritus at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), having taught there for over 40 years. May 1 is the 121st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (122nd in leap years). ... 1934 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... City nickname:Calfornias Country Music Capital County Kern County, California Area  - Total  - Water 296. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about: United States Wikinews has news related to this article: United States United States government CIA World Factbook Entry for United States House. ... Computer science (informally: CS or compsci) is, in its most general sense, the study of computation and information processing, both in hardware and in software. ... The California Institute of Technology (commonly known as Caltech) is a private, coeducational university located in Pasadena, California, in the United States. ...

Mead studied electrical engineering at Caltech, getting his B.S. in 1956, his M.S. in 1957, and his Ph.D. degree in 1959. Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline that deals with the study and application of electricity and electromagnetism. ... A Bachelor of Science (B.S., B.Sc. ... A masters degree is an academic degree usually awarded for completion of a postgraduate course of one or two years in duration. ... Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. ...

Carver Mead and Lynn Conway co-wrote the landmark text Introduction to VLSI systems in 1980. A pioneering and well-written textbook, it has been used in VLSI integrated circuit education all over the world for decades. Mead is credited by Intel's (then Fairchild Semiconductor's) Gordon Moore of coining the term Moore's Law [1], denoting the observation/prediction Moore did in 1965 about the growth rate of the transistor amount fitting on a single integrated circuit. Lynn Conway is a U.S. computer scientist and inventor. ... Very-large-scale integration (VLSI) of systems of transistor-based circuits into integrated circuits on a single chip first occurred in the 1980s as part of the semiconductor and communication technologies that were being developed. ... Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) (founded 1968) is a U.S.-based multinational corporation that is best known for designing and manufacturing microprocessors and specialized integrated circuits. ... Fairchild Semiconductor introduced the first commercially available integrated circuit (although at almost the same time as one from Texas Instruments), and would go on to become one of the major players in the evolution of Silicon Valley in the 1960s. ... Gordon Moore Gordon Earl Moore (born January 3, 1929) is co-founder of Intel Corporation and the author of Moores law. ... Growth of transistor counts for Intel processors (dots) and Moores Law (upper line=18 months; lower line=24 months) Moores law is the empirical observation that at our rate of technological development, the complexity of an integrated circuit, with respect to minimum component cost will double in about... Through hole transistors (tape measure marked in centimeters) The transistor is a solid state semiconductor device which can be used for amplification, switching, voltage stabilization, signal modulation and many other functions. ...

In relation to his 2002 award with the National Medal of Technology, his biography at a webpage of the Technology Administration of the United States government says: 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The National Medal of Technology is an honor granted by the President of the United States to inventors and innovators that have made significant contributions to the development of new and important technology. ... The Technology Administration (TA) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that works with United States industries to promote economic competitiveness. ...

    Carver Mead is a key pioneer of modern microelectronics. His 40-year academic and industry career touches all aspects of microelectronics, from spearheading the development of tools and techniques for modern integrated circuit design, to laying the foundation for fabless semiconductor companies, to catalyzing the electronic design automation field, to training generations of engineers, to founding more than twenty companies, including Actel Corporation, Silicon Compilers, Synaptics, and Sonic Innovations.
    Carver's career is characterized by an endless string of "firsts." He built the first GaAs MESFET, a device that is today a mainstay of wireless electronics. He was the first to use a physics-based analysis to predict a lower limit to transistor size. His predictions, along with the notions of scalability that came with them, were instrumental in setting the industry on its path toward submicron technology. He was the first to predict millions of transistors on a chip, and, on the basis of these predictions, he developed the first techniques for designing big, complex microchips. He taught the world's first VLSI design course. He created the first software compilation of a silicon chip.
   Halfway through his career he switched direction, teaming with Professor John Hopfield and Nobelist Richard Feynman to study how animal brains compute. The trio catalyzed three fields: Neural Networks, Neuromorphic Engineering, and Physics of Computation. Carver created the first neurally inspired chips, including the silicon retina and chips that learn from experience, and founded the first companies to use these technologies: Synaptics, and Foveon, Inc., a Santa Clara, California company developing CMOS image sensor/processing chips (for use in e.g. digital photography).
    Carver's teaching legacy is every bit as significant as his research. He taught the original founders of Sun Microsystems, Silicon Graphics, Silicon Design Labs, and countless others. His work in electronic design automation (EDA) created companies such as Silicon Compilers, Silerity, and Cascade Semiconductor Design. He and Ivan Sutherland created the computer science department at Caltech. The 1980 textbook he coauthored with Lynn Conway, Introduction to VLSI Design, was standard training for a generation of engineers. His 1989 textbook, Analog VLSI and Neural Systems, trained interdisciplinary researchers who are poised today to revolutionize the frontier of computing and neurobiology. Although retired. Carver continues his teaching tradition today: His new passion is finding a better way to teach freshman physics, using the quantum nature of matter as a sole basis. Microelectronics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... An integrated circuit (IC) is a thin chip consisting of at least two interconnected semiconductor devices, mainly transistors, as well as passive components like resistors. ... A fabless semiconductor company specializes in the design and sale of hardware devices implemented on semiconductor chips. ... A semiconductor is a material with an electrical conductance that is intermediate to those of an insulator and a conductor. ... Electronic design automation (EDA) is the category of tools for designing and producing electronic systems ranging from printed circuit boards (PCBs) to integrated circuits. ... This article is about the chemical compound. ... MESFET stands for Metal-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor. ... Wireless was an old-fashioned term for a radio receiver, referring to its use as a wireless telegraph. ... Through hole transistors (tape measure marked in centimeters) The transistor is a solid state semiconductor device which can be used for amplification, switching, voltage stabilization, signal modulation and many other functions. ... Very-large-scale integration (VLSI) of systems of transistor-based circuits into integrated circuits on a single chip first occurred in the 1980s as part of the semiconductor and communication technologies that were being developed. ... General Name, Symbol, Number silicon, Si, 14 Chemical series metalloids Group, Period, Block 14, 3, p Appearance dark gray, bluish tinge Atomic mass 28. ... A chip is a general term for a splinter or shard of something. ... John J. Hopfield is an American scientist most widely known for his invention of associative neural network in 1982. ... Richard Phillips Feynman (May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) (surname pronounced FINE-man; in IPA) was one of the most influential American physicists of the 20th century, expanding greatly the theory of quantum electrodynamics. ... Brains has several meanings. ... A neural network is an interconnected group of neurons. ... The term neuromorphic was coined by Carver Mead, in the late 80s to describe Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) systems containing electronic analog circuits that mimic neuro-biological architectures present in the nervous system. ... Location of Santa Clara within Santa Clara County, California. ... CMOS (pronounced see-moss) is the name used for a major class of integrated circuits. ... A sensor is a technological device or biological organ that detects, or senses, a signal or physical condition. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... An integrated circuit (IC) is a thin chip consisting of at least two interconnected semiconductor devices, mainly transistors, as well as passive components like resistors. ... The Nikon Coolpix 950 Casio Exilim Digital photography, as opposed to film photography, uses an electronic sensor to record the image as a piece of electronic data rather than as chemical changes on film. ... Sun Microsystems is a computer, semiconductor and software manufacturer headquartered in Santa Clara, California, in Silicon Valley. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... EDA can mean: electronic design automation in arms trade it means excess defense articles in statistics it means exploratory data analysis in computer science it means event-driven architecture in European Union politics it means European Defence Agency Eating Disorders Association Estimation of Distribution Algorithms This page concerning a three... Ivan Edward Sutherland (born 1938- in Hastings, Nebraska), younger brother of Bert Sutherland, was the inventor of Sketchpad, an innovative program that influenced alternative forms of interaction with computers. ... California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (commonly known as Caltech) is a private, coeducational university located in Pasadena, California, in the United States. ... Lynn Conway is a U.S. computer scientist and inventor. ...

Quotes

• "Listen to the technology; find out what it's telling you."

• "The quantum world is a world of waves, not particles. So we have to think of electron waves and proton waves and so on. Matter is 'incoherent' when all its waves have a different wavelength, implying a different momentum. On the other hand, if you take a pure quantum system - the electrons in a superconducting magnet, or the atoms in a laser - they are all in phase with one another, and they demonstrate the wave nature of matter on a large scale. Then you can see quite visibly what matter is down at its heart." (Carver Mead Interview, American Spectator, Sep/Oct2001, Vol. 34 Issue 7, p68)

Also see: The Wave Structure of Matter The Wave Structure Matter (WSM) model is an emerging fringe theory in the category of Theoretical Physics . ...

Awards

• In 1981 Electronics Magazine presented Mead and Conway with its annual Award for Achievement.
• In 1996 Mead was honored with the Phil Kaufman Award for his impact on electronic design industry.
• In 1999 Mead received the Lemelson-MIT Prize.
• In 2002 Mead was awarded the National Medal of Technology.
• Also in 2002 Mead received the Computer History Museum Fellow Award, "for his contributions in pioneering the automation, methodology and teaching of integrated circuit design".

1981 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Phil Kaufman Award is established by the EDA Consortium to recognize individuals for their impact on electronic design by their contributions to electronic design automation (EDA) in any of the folllowing categories: Business Industry Direction and Promotion Technology and Engineering Educational and Mentoring The award was established to honor Phil... 1999 is a common year starting on Friday of the Common Era, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... The Lemelson-MIT Prize, endowed in 1994 by Jerome H. Lemelson, and administered through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is awarded to inventors from the United States for outstanding achievement. ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The National Medal of Technology is an honor granted by the President of the United States to inventors and innovators that have made significant contributions to the development of new and important technology. ... The Computer History Museum is a museum established in 1996 (originally as The Computer Museum History Center until 2001) dedicated to preserving the history of the information age and the computing revolution, located in Mountain View, California, USA (Silicon Valley). ...

External links

• National Medal of Technology citation, including the above biography (PDF)
• Mead's page at Caltech
• Computer History Museum Fellow Award citation (including a photo)