Robert Dennard
Inventor of Dynamic RAM
Fellow, 91; died 23 April
In 1967 Dennard invented what is named DRAM—a sort of random-access semiconductor reminiscence that shops every bit of knowledge in a reminiscence cell consisting of a tiny capacitor and transistor.
Earlier than his invention, RAM required cumbersome, power-hungry parts that had been costly to provide. His breakthrough paved the way in which for cheap, high-density, and commercially out there reminiscence.
The computing pioneer obtained the 2009 IEEE Medal of Honor for his innovation.
Dennard started his profession as a employees engineer at IBM’s New York Metropolis analysis lab. He labored on new units and circuits for logic and reminiscence purposes and developed superior information communication strategies.
He was transferred in 1961 to IBM’s newly opened Watson Research Center, in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., the place he labored on field-effect transistors and built-in circuits, utilizing a six-transistor reminiscence cell for every bit of knowledge, the usual on the time. In 1968 Dennard efficiently lowered a RAM cell to a small capacitor and a single field-effect transistor—the machine that grew to become generally known as DRAM. He was granted a U.S. patent for his invention in 1968.
By the early Seventies, DRAM was customary in just about all computer systems. A decade later, the machine powered the primary PCs—together with the IBM 5150—permitting them to carry out extra complicated operations.
After DRAM’s success, Dennard turned his consideration to transistors. In 1972 he developed ideas for scaling metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) units, the principle constructing block in low-power and high-performance very-large-scale integration (VLSI) chips. IEEE Fellow Gordon Moore had predicted that the variety of transistors on a chip would double each two years, however Dennard proposed that as transistors obtained smaller, their energy consumption would stay practically fixed. He printed his idea, now generally known as Dennard scaling, with a set of supporting ideas within the 1974 paper “Design of Ion-Implanted MOSFETs With Very Small Physical Dimensions.”
Dennard was named an IBM Fellow in 1979. For the following a number of many years on the firm, he labored on metal-oxide-semiconductor expertise, refining RAM and creating low-voltage, high-performance circuits.
Throughout his profession, he was honored with dozens of awards together with the 2019 IEEE Robert N. Noyce Medal and the 2001 IEEE Edison Medal. In 1997 Dennard was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
He obtained bachelor’s and grasp’s levels in electrical engineering in 1954 and 1956 from Southern Methodist University, in Dallas. Two years later he earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Carnegie Institute of Know-how (now a part of Carnegie Mellon).
Richard P. Schulz
Energy programs engineer
Life Fellow, 87; died 29 Might
Schulz started his profession in 1959 as an influence programs engineer at General Electric in Schenectady, N.Y. He labored there till 1987, when he joined American Electric Power in Columbus, Ohio. He retired in 2000 and have become a advisor.
He specialised in energy programs evaluation.
Schulz, a member of the IEEE Power & Energy Society, authored or coauthored 32 papers on power grid testing reliability that had been featured in IEEE publications.
He earned a bachelor’s diploma in electrical and mechanical engineering in 1959 from Lehigh University, in Bethlehem, Pa., and a grasp’s diploma in 1966 from Union College, in Schenectady.
C. Gordon Bell
Developer of early PCs
Fellow, 89; died 17 Might
Bell helped develop early PCs at Digital Equipment Corp., a pioneering laptop firm in Maynard, Mass. He obtained the 1992 IEEE John Von Neumann Medal for “revolutionary contributions to laptop structure and design.”
He joined DEC in 1960 and spent his first few years there designing the agency’s minicomputers and time-sharing computer systems. Time-sharing was a method that made computing sooner and cheaper by permitting a number of customers to function a system concurrently with out interfering with one another.
Bell left DEC in 1966 to affix the Carnegie Institute of Know-how (now a part of Carnegie Mellon) as a professor of laptop science and electrical engineering.
He returned to DEC in 1972 as vice chairman of R&D and led the event of the corporate’s VAX minicomputers. Launched in 1977, the VAX line featured a 32-bit instruction set structure and digital reminiscence. Its user-friendly working system, generally known as VMS, enabled file sharing, networking, and different new options.
In 1979 Bell and Ken Olsen, the corporate’s CEO, based the Digital Computer Museum in Marlborough, Mass. Its assortment of artifacts is now a part of the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif.
Bell left DEC in 1983 to discovered Encore Computer Co., a producer in Marlborough. Whereas there, he helped develop one of many first a number of microprocessor computer systems. Three years later he was appointed the primary assistant director of the U.S. Nationwide Science Basis’s Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering and served in that function till 1987.
After his one-year time period with the NSF, Bell moved to California to affix Ardent Computer Corp. in Sunnyvale as vice chairman of engineering. He led the event of the primary graphics supercomputer there.
In 1995 he grew to become a researcher at Microsoft, in Mountain View, the place his work targeted on telepresence applied sciences and multimedia. He retired in 2015.
Bell authored six books on computing and entrepreneurship. He was a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering.
He obtained a number of awards together with the 1991 National Medal of Technology and Innovation for “his persevering with mental and industrial achievements within the discipline of laptop design; and for his main function in establishing cost-effective, highly effective computer systems which function a big software for engineering, science, and business.”
He earned bachelor’s and grasp’s levels in electrical engineering from MIT in 1956 and 1957.
Laveen Nanik Kanal
Founder and president of LNK
Life Fellow, 92; died 3 Might
Kanal was a pc science professor for 26 years on the University of Maryland, in Faculty Park.
He additionally based LNK in Germantown, Md., and served as its president for 30 years. The R&D expertise firm specialised in sample recognition, picture processing, and artificial intelligence.
Kanal emigrated from India to the US in 1948 to attend the University of Washington in Seattle, the place he earned bachelor’s and grasp’s levels in electrical engineering in 1951 and 1953.
After graduating, Kanal labored for 2 years as an electronics engineer at Canada General Electric in Toronto. He left in 1955 to affix General Dynamics in Rochester, N.Y., as supervisor of its machine intelligence laboratory. After two years, Kanal determined to pursue a Ph.D. on the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. He earned his doctorate in electrical engineering in 1960, then joined Philco-Ford Corp., an electronics firm in Willow Grove, Pa., as an engineering supervisor. He left in 1968 to discovered LNK.
In 1970 he modified profession paths and have become a professor on the College of Maryland, the place he performed a key function in establishing and increasing the varsity’s laptop science division. He was director of the college’s Machine Intelligence and Sample Evaluation Laboratory (now the Center for Machine Learning) from 1974 to 1989. He was named professor emeritus in 1996.
Kanal was a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the International Association for Pattern Recognition. In 1992 he obtained the IAPR’s King-Sun Fu Prize for contributions to the sphere of sample recognition.
H. Joel Trussell
Former Proceedings of the IEEE editor in chief
Fellow, 79; died 9 April
Trussellwas a devoted IEEE volunteer who served as Proceedings of the IEEE editor in chief from 2013 to 2018. He additionally was a former member of The Institute’s editorial advisory board.
A distinguished researcher within the discipline of sign and picture processing, Trussell spent the primary 11 years of his profession at Los Alamos National Laboratory, in Santa Fe, N.M.
He determined to pursue a profession in academia and left Los Alamos to show at Heriot-Watt University, in Edinburgh. In 1980 he grew to become {an electrical} and laptop and engineering professor at North Carolina State University, in Raleigh, the place he taught for 40 years, retiring in 2020.
Trussell’s analysis pursuits included estimation idea, colour imaging, and sign and picture restoration and reconstruction. One in every of his most important contributions was introducing new mathematical instruments to mannequin and incorporate a priori information—which depends on deductive reasoning to make predictions—to deal with sign restoration challenges. He additionally created a strong mathematical framework for the examine of colour imaging. His analysis led to partnerships with Color Savvy Systems, a startup that targeted on picture colour measurement and management, in addition to Eastman Kodak and Hewlett-Packard.
Throughout his time at Proceedings of the IEEE, he edited greater than 200 papers. He shared the 1986 IEEE Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing Society Senior Paper Award with M. Reha Civanlar for “The Feasible Solution in Signal Restoration,” and the 1993 IEEE Signal Processing Society Paper Award with Patrick L. Combettes for “The Use of Noise Properties in Set Theoretic Estimation.”
Trussell obtained a bachelor’s diploma in utilized arithmetic in 1967 from Georgia Tech. He went on to earn a grasp’s diploma in the identical topic the following yr from Florida State University, in Tallahassee. In 1976 he obtained a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and laptop science from the University of New Mexico, in Albuquerque.
James Theodore Hardin
Vice chairman and chief engineer
Member, 89; died 18 January
Hardin was former vice chairman and chief engineer at Innovative Applications Corp. (IAC), in El Paso, Texas. It specialised in processing and recycling laser toner cartridges.
Within the early Nineteen Fifties Hardin was an engineer at Lockheed Corp., an aerospace producer, in Calabasas, Calif., the place he contributed to the design of Air Force One, the airplane utilized by U.S. presidents.
He enlisted within the U.S. Navy in 1957 and served on the USS Coral Sea as a nuclear weapons officer. When his lively obligation resulted in 1963, he remained within the Navy Reserve till he retired within the Nineteen Eighties as a captain.
In his civilian function, he labored as an engineer and supervisor at Prestolite Electric, a worldwide producer and provider of alternators, starters, and electrical tools, with headquarters in Novi, Mich. He left within the late Nineteen Eighties to function director of engineering at Septor Electronics Corp., which developed manufacturing tools in El Paso. In 1992 he left Septor to affix IAC.
Hardin obtained bachelor’s and grasp’s levels in mechanical engineering in 1956 and 1963 from Bradley University, in Peoria, In poor health.
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