Oral history interview with Carver A. Mead
- 2004-Sep-30
- 2004-Dec-08
- 2005-Aug-15
Carver A. Mead begins with a review of his family history and his childhood near a power plant in Kernville, California. He discusses his early interest in electronics, which included getting his ham radio license and working for local radio stations during high school. Mead studied electrical engineering at the California Institute of Technology and was invited to teach during graduate school, where he took up solid state electronics. In 1959 Gordon Moore contacted Mead, beginning an informal technical exchange while Moore was at Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel Corporation. Mead conducted transistor research, and also pioneered automated design methodologies for VLSI devices. While consulting with Intel Corporation, Mead came to know its internal business culture and management style as well as the economics of the silicon manufacture. Mead discusses his long history of entrepreneurial activity, which continues to the present day.
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About the Interviewers
David C. Brock is a senior research fellow with the Center for Contemporary History and Policy at the Chemical Heritage Foundation. As a historian of science and technology, he specializes in the history of semiconductor science, technology, and industry; the history of instrumentation; and oral history. Brock has studied the philosophy, sociology, and history of science at Brown University, the University of Edinburgh, and Princeton University.In the policy arena Brock recently published Patterning the World: The Rise of Chemically Amplified Photoresists, a white-paper case study for the Center’s Studies in Materials Innovation. With Hyungsub Choi he is preparing an analysis of semiconductor technology roadmapping, having presented preliminary results at the 2009 meeting of the Industry Studies Association.
Arnold Thackray founded the Chemical Heritage Foundation and served the organization as president for 25 years. He is currently CHF’s chancellor. Thackray received MA and PhD degrees in history of science from Cambridge University. He has held appointments at Cambridge, Oxford University, and Harvard University, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1983 Thackray received the Dexter Award from the American Chemical Society for outstanding contributions to the history of chemistry. He served for more than a quarter century on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was the founding chairman of the Department of History and Sociology of Science and is currently the Joseph Priestley Professor Emeritus.
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Interviewee biographical information
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Education
| Year | Institution | Degree | Discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | California Institute of Technology | BSEE | Electrical Engineering |
| 1957 | California Institute of Technology | MSEE | Electrical Engineering |
| 1959 | California Institute of Technology | PhD | Electrical Engineering |
Professional Experience
California Institute of Technology
- 1955 to 1958 Teaching Assistant, Department of Electrical Engineering
- 1958 to 1959 Lecturer, Department of Electrical Engineering
- 1959 to 1962 Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering
- 1962 to 1967 Associate Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering
- 1967 to 1977 Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering
- 1977 to 1980 Professor, Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
- 1980 to 1992 Gordon and Betty Moore Professor of Computing Science
- 1992 to 1999 Gordon and Betty Moore Professor of Engineering and Applied Science
- 1999 to 2006 Gordon and Betty Moore Professor of Engineering and Applied Science Emeritus
Pacific Semiconductors, Inc.
- 1956 to 1960 Consultant
Fairchild (Firm)
- 1960 to 1968 Consultant
Intel Corporation
- 1968 to 2006 Consultant
Synaptics, Inc.
- 1986 to 2006 Director, Co-founder
Foveon, Inc.
- 1997 to 2006 Chairman, Co-founder
Impinj, Inc.
- 2000 to 2006 Director, Co-founder
Honors
| Year(s) | Award |
|---|---|
| 1981 | Award for Achievement, Electronics Magazine |
| 1984 | Centennial Medal, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
| 1984 | Howard Pender Award |
| 1985 | John Price Wetherhill Medal, Franklin Institute |
| 1985 | Harry Goode Memorial Award, American Federation of Information Processing Societies |
| 1987 | Honorary Doctorate of Science, University of Lund |
| 1987 | Walter B. Wriston Public Policy Award, Hudson Institute |
| 1991 | Honorary Doctorate, University of Southern California |
| 1992 | Award for Outstanding Research, International Neural Network Society |
| 1994 | Secretary of the Navy Captain Robert Dexter Conrad Award |
| 1996 | John Von Neumann Medal, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
| 1996 | Phil Kaufman Award, Electronic Design Automation Consortium |
| 1997 | Allen Newell Award, Association for Computing |
| 1999 | Lemelson-MIT Prize, Invention and Innovation |
| 2002 | Computer History Museum Fellow Award |
| 2002 | Dickson Prize in Science |
| 2002 | National Medal of Technology |
| 2022 | Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology, Inamori Foundation, Kyoto, Japan |
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