Grampa's heroes

Re: Grampa's heroes

Lee Brenkman said:
I never met Jim Williams but knew many of his contemporaries. Guys like this were my heroes. The blended a firm knowledge of engineering with just enough of a sense of wonder, whimsy and magic to do the real foundation work for the things we take for granted in our work and lives.

I also admire anyone with "messy desk" who still gets the job done!

http://www.computerhistory.org/highlights/analoglife/
Click to expand...
A clean desk is the sign of an empty mind-is what I always say.

His work bench reminds me of mine-except I haven't built bridges between pieces of test equipment.

Back in my repair shop days-it was pretty standard to have several projects piled on top of each other as I worked on them.

Glad to see I am not alone.

He sounds like a fun guy to be around.
 
Re: Grampa's heroes

For obvious counterpoint, here's an image from Barrie Gilbert's home lab.
barrie_gilbert_first_section.jpg


While Gilbert may not be as well known as Williams and Pease because he didn't write columns in trade magazines, he was a famous and accomplished design engineer, with circuits named after him.

I suspect we all fall into two camps, messy or neat... I am clearly in the messy camp.

JR

PS: The large sprawling spider web like prototype circuits are a cultural artifact of the older through hole leaded technology. As more and more modern parts become only available in tiny lead less SMT packages, this old school construction technique is no longer practical.. these days I have to lay out a dedicated PCB just to try a new circuit.
 
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