Carver Mead
Encyclopedia
Computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
. He currently holds the position of Gordon and Betty Moore Professor Emeritus of Engineering and Applied Science at the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
(Caltech), having taught there for over 40 years.
Mead studied electrical engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
at Caltech, getting his BS in 1956, his MS in 1957, and his PhD degree in 1960.
Mead–Conway VLSI design and Moore's law
Carver Mead and Lynn ConwayLynn Conway
Lynn Conway is an American computer scientist, electrical engineer, inventor, trans woman, and activist for the transgender community....
co-wrote the landmark text Introduction to VLSI systems in 1980, an important spearhead of the Mead & Conway revolution
Mead & Conway revolution
The Mead & Conway revolution was the development of VLSI design and prototyping within or for academic institutions, both for education and research, and consequently breeding new kinds of industries based on microelectronics applications.-Background:...
. A pioneering and well-written textbook, it has been used in VLSI
Very-large-scale integration
Very-large-scale integration is the process of creating integrated circuits by combining thousands of transistors into a single chip. VLSI began in the 1970s when complex semiconductor and communication technologies were being developed. The microprocessor is a VLSI device.The first semiconductor...
integrated circuit
Integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
education all over the world for decades. Mead is credited by Intel's (at that time Fairchild Semiconductor
Fairchild Semiconductor
Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. is an American semiconductor company based in San Jose, California. Founded in 1957, it was a pioneer in transistor and integrated circuit manufacturing...
's) Gordon Moore
Gordon Moore
Gordon Earle Moore is the co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of Intel Corporation and the author of Moore's Law .-Life and career:...
of coining the term Moore's Law
Moore's Law
Moore's law describes a long-term trend in the history of computing hardware: the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years....
, denoting the observation/prediction Moore did in 1965 about the growth rate of the transistor
Transistor
A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and power. It is composed of a semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current...
amount fitting on a single integrated circuit.
"Firsts"
In relation to his 2002 award with the National Medal of TechnologyNational Medal of Technology
The National Medal of Technology and Innovation is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development of new and important technology...
, his biography at a webpage of the Technology Administration
Technology Administration
The Technology Administration is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that works with United States industries to promote economic competitiveness...
of the United States government says:
Carver Mead is a key pioneer of modern microelectronicsMicroelectronicsMicroelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture of very small electronic components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre-scale or smaller,. These devices are made from semiconductors...
. His 40-year academic and industry career touches all aspects of microelectronics, from spearheading the development of tools and techniques for modern integrated circuitIntegrated circuitAn integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
design, to laying the foundation for fabless semiconductorSemiconductorA semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
companies, to catalyzing the electronic design automationElectronic design automationElectronic design automation is a category of software tools for designing electronic systems such as printed circuit boards and integrated circuits...
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 MESFETMESFETMESFET stands for metal semiconductor field effect transistor. It is quite similar to a JFET in construction and terminology. The difference is that instead of using a p-n junction for a gate, a Schottky junction is used...
, a device that is today a mainstay of wirelessWirelessWireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
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 submicrometre 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 siliconSilicon compilerA silicon compiler is a software system that takes a user's specifications and automatically generates an integrated circuit . The process is sometimes referred to as hardware compilation.Silicon compilation takes place in three major steps:...
chipIntegrated circuitAn integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
.
Halfway through his career he switched direction, teaming with Professor John Hopfield and Nobelist Richard FeynmanRichard FeynmanRichard Phillips Feynman was an American physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics...
to study how animal brains compute. The trio catalyzed three fields: Neural NetworksNeural NetworksNeural Networks is the official journal of the three oldest societies dedicated to research in neural networks: International Neural Network Society, European Neural Network Society and Japanese Neural Network Society, published by Elsevier...
, NeuromorphicNeuromorphicNeuromorphic engineering or neuromorphic computing is a concept developed by Carver Mead, in the late 1980s, describing the use of very-large-scale integration systems containing electronic analog circuits to mimic neuro-biological architectures present in the nervous system...
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: SynapticsSynapticsSynaptics develops human interface solutions for many major consumer electronics companies, such as Apple Inc., Asus, Acer, Dell, Gateway, HP, HTC, Lenovo, LG, Logitech, Nokia, Samsung, Sony, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and several others...
, and FoveonFoveonFoveon, Inc., is the company that makes the Foveon X3 sensor, which captures images in digital single-lens reflex cameras such as the Sigma Corporation SD9, SD10, SD14 and SD15 as well as in the compacts DP1, DP2 and Polaroid X530....
, Inc., a Santa Clara, CaliforniaSanta Clara, CaliforniaSanta Clara , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city is the site of the eighth of 21 California missions, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and was named after the mission. The Mission and Mission Gardens are located on the...
company developing CMOS image sensorSensorA sensor is a device that measures a physical quantity and converts it into a signal which can be read by an observer or by an instrument. For example, a mercury-in-glass thermometer converts the measured temperature into expansion and contraction of a liquid which can be read on a calibrated...
/processingImage processingIn electrical engineering and computer science, image processing is any form of signal processing for which the input is an image, such as a photograph or video frame; the output of image processing may be either an image or, a set of characteristics or parameters related to the image...
chips (for use in e.g. digital photographyDigital photographyDigital photography is a form of photography that uses an array of light sensitive sensors to capture the image focused by the lens, as opposed to an exposure on light sensitive film...
).
Carver's teaching legacy is every bit as significant as his research. He taught the original founders of Sun MicrosystemsSun MicrosystemsSun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
, Silicon GraphicsSilicon GraphicsSilicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark...
, Silicon Design Labs, and countless others. His work in electronic design automationElectronic design automationElectronic design automation is a category of software tools for designing electronic systems such as printed circuit boards and integrated circuits...
(EDA) created companies such as Silicon Compilers, Silerity, and Cascade Semiconductor Design. He and Ivan SutherlandIvan SutherlandIvan Edward Sutherland is an American computer scientist and Internet pioneer. He received the Turing Award from the Association for Computing Machinery in 1988 for the invention of Sketchpad, an early predecessor to the sort of graphical user interface that has become ubiquitous in personal...
created the computer science department at Caltech. The 1980 textbook he coauthored with Lynn ConwayLynn ConwayLynn Conway is an American computer scientist, electrical engineer, inventor, trans woman, and activist for the transgender community....
, 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.
Carver also pioneered the use of floating-gate transistors as a means of non-volatile storage for neuromorphic and other analog circuits.
"Collective Electrodynamics" approach to electromagnetism
Carver Mead has developed an approach he calls Collective Electrodynamics in which electromagnetic effects, including quantized energy transfer, derived from the interactions of the wavefunctions of electrons behavingcollectively. In this formulation, the photon is a non-entity, and Planck's energy–frequency relationship comes from the interactions of electron eigenstates. The approach is related to John Cramer
John G. Cramer
John G. Cramer is a professor of physics at the University of Washington in Seattle, the United States. When not teaching, he works with the STAR detector at the new Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the particle accelerator at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland...
's transactional interpretation
Transactional interpretation
The transactional interpretation of quantum mechanics describes quantum interactions in terms of a standing wave formed by retarded and advanced waves. It was first proposed in 1986 by John G...
of quantum mechanics, to the Wheeler-Feynman absorber theory of electrodynamics, and to Gilbert N. Lewis
Gilbert N. Lewis
Gilbert Newton Lewis was an American physical chemist known for the discovery of the covalent bond , his purification of heavy water, his reformulation of chemical thermodynamics in a mathematically rigorous manner accessible to ordinary chemists, his theory of Lewis acids and...
's early description of electromagnetic energy exchange at zero interval in spacetime
Spacetime
In physics, spacetime is any mathematical model that combines space and time into a single continuum. Spacetime is usually interpreted with space as being three-dimensional and time playing the role of a fourth dimension that is of a different sort from the spatial dimensions...
.
Quotations
- "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."
Companies founded
- ActelActelActel Corporation is a manufacturer of nonvolatile, low-power FPGAs, mixed-signal FPGAs, and programmable logic solutions...
- FoveonFoveonFoveon, Inc., is the company that makes the Foveon X3 sensor, which captures images in digital single-lens reflex cameras such as the Sigma Corporation SD9, SD10, SD14 and SD15 as well as in the compacts DP1, DP2 and Polaroid X530....
- ImpinjImpinjImpinj, Inc. is a manufacturer of radio-frequency identification technology. The company was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The company was started based on the research done at the California Institute of Technology by Carver Mead and Chris Diorio...
- Silicon Compilers
- Sonic Innovations
- SynapticsSynapticsSynaptics develops human interface solutions for many major consumer electronics companies, such as Apple Inc., Asus, Acer, Dell, Gateway, HP, HTC, Lenovo, LG, Logitech, Nokia, Samsung, Sony, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and several others...
Awards
- In 1981 Electronics MagazineElectronics (magazine)Electronics was an American trade journal that covered the radio industry and its later spin-offs in the mid to late 1900s. Published by McGraw-Hill and Penton Publishing , its first issue was dated in April 1930....
presented Mead and Conway with its annual Award for Achievement. - In 1985 he was awarded the John Price Wetherill Medal from The Franklin Institute.
- In 1996 Mead was honored with the Phil Kaufman AwardPhil Kaufman AwardPhil Kaufman Award is established by the EDA Consortium to recognize individuals for their impact on electronic design by their contributions to electronic design automation...
for his impact on electronic design industry. - In 1999 Mead received the Lemelson-MIT PrizeLemelson-MIT PrizeThe Lemelson Foundation awards several prizes yearly to inventors in United States. The largest is the Lemelson-MIT Prize which was endowed in 1994 by Jerome H. Lemelson, and is administered through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...
. - In 2002 Mead was awarded the National Medal of TechnologyNational Medal of TechnologyThe National Medal of Technology and Innovation is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development of new and important technology...
. - Also in 2002 Mead received the Computer History MuseumComputer History MuseumThe Computer History Museum is a museum established in 1996 in Mountain View, California, USA. The Museum is dedicated to preserving and presenting the stories and artifacts of the information age, and exploring the computing revolution and its impact on our lives.-History:The museum's origins...
Fellow Award, "for his contributions in pioneering the automation, methodology and teaching of integrated circuit design".
External links
- National Medal of Technology citation, including the above biography (PDFPortable Document FormatPortable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
)