Bob Pease Explained
Robert Allen Pease (August 22, 1940 – June 18, 2011) was an electronics engineer known for analog integrated circuit (IC) design, and as the author of technical books and articles about electronic design.[1] [2] He designed several very successful "best-seller" ICs, many of them in continuous production for multiple decades.These include LM331 voltage-to-frequency converter,[3] and the LM337 adjustable negative voltage regulator (complement to the LM317).
Life and career
Pease was born on August 22, 1940, in Rockville, Connecticut.[4] [5] He attended Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts, and subsequently obtained a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1961.He started work in the early 1960s at George A. Philbrick Researches (GAP-R). GAP-R pioneered the first reasonable-cost, mass-produced operational amplifier (op-amp), the K2-W. At GAP-R, Pease developed many high-performance op-amps, built with discrete solid-state components.
In 1976, Pease moved to National Semiconductor Corporation (NSC) as a Design and Applications Engineer, where he began designing analog monolithic ICs, as well as design reference circuits using these devices. He had advanced to Staff Engineer by the time of his departure in 2009.[6] [7] During his tenure at NSC, he began writing a popular continuing monthly column called "Pease Porridge" in Electronic Design about his experiences in the world of electronic design and application.[8]
The last project Pease worked on was the THOR-LVX[9] [10] [11] [12] (photo-nuclear) microtron Advanced Explosives contraband Detection System: "A Dual-Purpose Ion-Accelerator for Nuclear-Reaction-Based Explosives-and SNM-Detection in Massive Cargo".[13] [14] [15] [16]
Pease was the author of eight books, including Troubleshooting Analog Circuits, and he held 21 patents.[17] Although his name was listed as "Robert A. Pease" in formal documents, he preferred to be called "Bob Pease" or to use his initials "RAP" in his magazine columns.
His other interests included hiking and biking in remote places, and working on his old Volkswagen Beetle, which he often mentioned in his columns.[18] Pease's writing was "strongly opinionated, but he could communicate with a wry sense of humor that endeared him to readers whether they agreed with him or not".[1] [19] [20]
Death
Pease was killed in the crash of his 1969 Volkswagen Beetle, on June 18, 2011.[21] [22] [23] He was leaving a gathering in memory of Jim Williams, who was another well-known analog circuit designer, a technical author, and a renowned staff engineer working at Linear Technology. Pease was 70 years old, and was survived by his wife, two sons, and three grandchildren.[23] The sudden death of Pease triggered a small flood of remembrances and tributes from fellow technical writers, practicing engineers, and electronics hardware hacking enthusiasts.[19] [21] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28]
Bob was notorious for his design chops, but also for his messy office. Below is one of his early offices at National, where he won a contest from a newspaper for messiest desk. Nancy (his wife) recollects, “It was a San Jose Mercury News messiest desk contest. Someone entered a picture of his office on his behalf, and asked him if he won a big prize would he share it. Bob didn’t know what the prize was at the time. The competition was in no way up to his entry, so they gave him 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prizes. The prize was for office furniture. Bob sold it to National and threw a pizza party with the money.”[27]
Publications (partial)
- Books
- Book: Pease . Robert A. . Troubleshooting analog circuits . 1993 . Butterworth-Heinemann . Boston . 978-0-7506-9499-5. – An industry standard bench-top reference book for troubleshooting (and designing) analog circuits
- Book: Pease
, Bob
. How to Drive Into Accidents ... and How Not To . transtronix . 1998 . self-published . San Francisco . An idiosyncratic, entertaining, and insightful book on safe driving techniques, written for novices and experienced drivers alike . https://web.archive.org/web/20010608124950/http://www.transtronix.com/ . June 8, 2001 . dead. 978-0-9655648-1-6 . June 8, 2001 . What was the first motivation for the book? My cousin Ellen Hubbard lost her 16-year-old daughter Christine to an unfortunate driving accident, a few years back. The official police report said that they did not know how the accident happened. But two young women died when their car was hit by a truck. The idea of a book began to grow, but I got sidetracked until the fall of 1994. .
- Book: Analog Circuits: World Class Designs . The Newnes World Class Designs Series . 2008 . Robert A. . Pease . Newnes . 978-0-7506-8627-3.
- Book: Circuit Design: Know It All . The Newnes Know It All Series . 2008 . Darren . Ashby . Bonnie . Baker . Stuart . Ball . J. . Crowe . Barrie . Hayes-Gill . Ian . Hickman . Walt . Kester . Ron . Mancini . Ian . Grout . Robert . Pease . Mike . Tooley . Tim . Williams . Peter . Wilson . Bob . Zeidman . Newnes . 978-1-85617-527-2.
- Journals
- A new Fahrenheit temperature sensor . Robert A. . Pease . IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits . 19 . 6 . 971–977 . December 1984 . 10.1109/JSSC.1984.1052253. 1984IJSSC..19..971P . 43707191 .
- What’s All This Widlar Stuff, Anyhow? – An article about the then-recently-deceased op-amp designer Bob Widlar, written by Bob Pease in Electronic Design; re-published on Jun 29, 2012; first published on July 25, 1991
See also
External links
Notes and References
- Tuite. Don. Remembering Bob Pease The Writer. Electronic Design. https://web.archive.org/web/20110624040424/http://electronicdesign.com/article/analog-and-mixed-signal/Remembering-Bob-Pease-The-Writer.aspx. dead. June 24, 2011. Penton Media, Inc.. 2011-06-21. June 20, 2011.
- Book: Williams, Jim. Analog Circuit Design: Art, Science and Personalities. Newnes . 1991 . xvi . 978-0-7506-9640-1 . 2010-07-15 .
- Web site: Engineering Silicon Valley . https://web.archive.org/web/20030812093423/http://www.national.com/company/pressroom/files/Eng_Interview_NSC.pdf . dead . 2003-08-12 . 1 . . 2010-07-15 .
- National Semiconductor Staff Scientist Bob Pease Named To Electrical Engineering Hall Of Fame . . https://web.archive.org/web/20030115113150/http://www2.national.com/news/item/0%2C1735%2C803%2C00.html . dead . January 15, 2003 . October 21, 2002 .
- A new Fahrenheit temperature sensor. Robert A. Pease . IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits . 19 . 6 . 971–977 . December 1984 . 10.1109/JSSC.1984.1052253. 1984IJSSC..19..971P . 43707191 .
- News: Departure of chip-design legend Bob Pease prompts outpouring in valley. Cassidy, Mike. San Jose Mercury News. April 20, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20120924060022/http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12167632. September 24, 2012. 2010-07-15. dead.
- Web site: Rako . Paul . National Semiconductor lays off Bob Pease . Anablog - Blog on EDN . . 27 June 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090320053016/http://www.edn.com/blog/1700000170/post/1030042103.html . 2009-03-20 . March 19, 2009 . I bet you thought that RAP was immune to layoffs. So did I..
- Web site: Gawel. Richard. An English Major Remembers An Analog Giant. https://web.archive.org/web/20110625143506/http://electronicdesign.com/article/analog-and-mixed-signal/An-English-Major-Remembers-An-Analog-Giant/2.aspx. dead. June 25, 2011. Electronic Design. Penton Media, Inc.. 2011-06-21. June 21, 2011.
- Accelerator-Detector Complex for Photonuclear Detection of Hidden Explosives Final Report Crada No. Tc2065.0 . W. H. . Lowdermilk . L. J. . Brothers . 6 September 2017 . 10.2172/1396209 . 1396209 . www.osti.gov .
- Web site: Counter-Terrorism . 2 August 2008 . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20080802021616/http://www.vlyf.com/counterterrorism. 2 August 2008.
- Web site: Valley Forge Composite Technologies Inc.: Private Company Information . Bloomberg.
- Web site: UC Alum Develops Anti-Terror Detection Technology . www.uc.edu.
- Web site: A New Way to Deal with the Cargo Container Security Problem. Emerging Technology from the. arXiv.
- Web site: Bob-Pease--His-last-challenge--Part-two . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20171201031602/https://www.edn.com/design/analog/4418068/9/Bob-Pease--His-last-challenge--Part-two . 2017-12-01 . 2017-11-19.
- Web site: 4 October 2013 . Bob Pease: His last challenge, Part three–The precision resistor . 6 May 2023.
- Web site: TARANOVICH . STEVE . 7 October 2013 . More on Pease's precision resistor article . 6 May 2023.
- Mattera . Lucinda . September 13, 2004 . Hall-Of-Famers Ponder The Future Of Electronics Engineering . . 2010-07-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091116044749/http://electronicdesign.com/Articles/ArticleID/8684/8684.html . November 16, 2009 . dead .
- Pease, Bob . Pease Porridge column . https://web.archive.org/web/20040523134743/http://www.elecdesign.com/Departments/DepartmentID/6/6.html . dead . 2004-05-23 . . 2010-07-15 .
- Web site: Desposito. Joseph. Bob Pease Remembered For Pease Porridge And A Whole Lot More. https://web.archive.org/web/20110623135024/http://electronicdesign.com/article/analog-and-mixed-signal/Bob-Pease-Remembered-For-Pease-Porridge-And-A-Whole-Lot-More.aspx. dead. 2011-06-23. Electronic Design. Penton Media, Inc.. 2011-06-21.
- Web site: Schneiderman. Ron. Robert A. Pease: Passionate, Talented Guru And Maverick. https://web.archive.org/web/20100102201539/http://electronicdesign.com/article/articles/robert-a-pease-passionate-talented-guru-and-maveri.aspx. dead. 2010-01-02. Electronic Design. Penton Media, Inc.. 2011-06-21.
- News: Schweber. Bill. Analog expert Bob Pease dies in accident. 2011-06-20 . EE Times. June 20, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110622035341/https://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4217077/Analog-expert-Bob-Pease-dies-in-tragic-accident. 2011-06-22.
- Bob Pease Killed in Car Crash. Electronic Design. Joseph. Desposito. June 19, 2011. June 22, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120602162902/http://electronicdesign.com/blog/joe-despositos-blog-1/articles/bob-pease-killed-in-car-crash-73311. June 2, 2012. dead.
- Rako . Paul . Analog engineering legend Bob Pease killed in car crash . . UBM Electronics . 2011-06-21 . June 20, 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110711030301/http://www.edn.com/article/518568-Analog_engineering_legend_Bob_Pease_killed_in_car_crash.php . July 11, 2011 .
- Rako . Paul . Analog engineering legend Bob Pease remembered . . UBM Electronics . 2011-06-21 . June 20, 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120308170845/http://www.edn.com/article/518569-Analog_engineering_legend_Bob_Pease_remembered.php . 2012-03-08 .
- Web site: Szczys. Mike. The passing of Bob Pease. Hack a Day. 2011-06-21. June 21, 2011.
- Web site: TARANOVICH . STEVE . 17 June 2013 . Bob Pease: A tribute to his last challenge– "What's all this voltage reference stability stuff?" Part one . 6 May 2023.
- Web site: Rako . Paul . Honoring the late analog great Bob Pease . . 27 June 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200715222746/https://www.edn.com/honoring-the-late-analog-great-bob-pease/ . 2020-07-15 . 2016-06-16 . Notorious analog engineer Bob Pease died five years ago, on June 18, 2011. His passing was all the more tragic since he died driving home from a remembrance for fellow analog great Jim Williams. Although it was a Saturday, Bob had come to the service from his office at National Semiconductor, now Texas Instruments..
- Web site: . National Remembers Legendary Analog Expert Bob Pease . . . 27 June 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231234/http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-remembers-legendary-analog-expert-bob-pease-124310539.html . 2016-03-03 . en . Among the products Pease designed are temperature-voltage frequency converters used in groundbreaking medical research expeditions to Mt. Everest in the 1980s. He also designed a seismic pre-amplifier chip used to measure lunar ground tremors in the U.S. Apollo moon landing missions. Among his more memorable designs are the LM331 voltage-to-frequency converter and the LM337 adjustable voltage regulator....Pease's reputation grew as he shared the secrets of analog design with engineers around the world through National's Analog Seminars. His passion for sharing information knew no bounds. He worked long hours, answering phone calls and emails from anyone with questions about analog design: customer, student, veteran engineer – it didn't matter....National Fellow Dennis Monticelli remembers Pease as a helpful colleague and friend. "We go way back to my days as a green engineer when his gregarious personality and sheer knowledge drew me in. Bob was always generous with his time and never forgot what interested you whether work-related or not. He could multi-task like no other, yet also dive deep and narrow into esoteric areas..