Carver Mead: A Trip Through four Eras of Innovation

摘要

Largely due to a little boy's trips with his dad to a power plant, today we can enjoy digital cameras with high-quality photos, touchpad screens, fast and clear telecommunications, video recorders, the Internet, and tons of other technological inventions based on affordable, integrated-circuit chip designs and neural circuitry. That little boy was Carver Mead. He now holds more than 50 U.S. patents, has authored loo-plus scientific papers, and is a pioneer in solid-state electronics, a revolutionary in the design of very large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuits, and a teacher to many creators of today's high-tech tools, systems, and gadgets. In 2003, Mead received the National Medal of Technology Award and the National Academy of Engineering Founders Award for visionary contributions to the field of microelectronics.