Next Meeting Is Friday, July 10, 2015

"The Origins of Silicon Valley: Roots in Ham Radio"
by Paul Wesling, KM6LH
IEEE SF Bay Area Communications Director, Hewlett-Packard (retired)

Why did Silicon Valley come into being? The story goes back to local Hams trying to break RCA's tube patents, the sinking of the Titanic, Naval ship communications requirements, World War I, Fred Terman and Stanford University, local invention of high-power tubes (gammatron, klystron), WW II and radar, William Shockley's mother living in Palo Alto, Hetch Hetchy water, and the SF Bay Area infrastructure that developed – these factors pretty much determined that the semiconductor and IC industries would be located in the Santa Clara Valley.

         Paul Wesling, KM6LH, an IEEE/CPMT Society Distinguished Lecturer, will give an exciting and colorful history of device technology development and innovation that began in San Francisco and Palo Alto in 1910, moved down the Peninsula (seeking lower costs and better housing), and ended up in the Santa Clara Valley during and following World War II. You'll meet some of the colorful characters -- Lee DeForest, “Doc” Herrold, Bill Eitel, Charles Litton, Fred Terman, David Packard, Bill Hewlett, Sigurd Varian  and others -- who came to define worldwide electronics industries through their inventions and process development.

Bio

Paul Wesling received his BS in electrical engineering and his MS in materials science from Stanford University. Following assignments at GTE/Lenkurt Electric, ISS/Sperry-Univac, Datapoint Peripheral Products (VP - Product Integrity), and Amdahl (mainframe testing), he joined Tandem Computer in Cupertino (now part of Hewlett Packard) in 1985. He designed several multi-chip module prototypes, managed Tandem's Distinguished Lectures series, and organized a number of advanced technology courses for his Division and also for the IEEE. He managed a grant from the National Science Foundation for the development of multimedia educational modules. Paul retired from HP in 2001, and now serves as the Communications Director for the IEEE S.F. Bay Area’s Council.

As  vice president of publications from 1985 through 2008, he supervised four archival journals and a newsletter. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, and received the IEEE Centennial Medal, the Board's Distinguished Service award, the Society Contribution Award, and the IEEE's Third Millennium Medal. He has organized over 500 courses for the local IEEE chapter in the Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley), many of them held at Stanford University (and, more recently, at Silicon Valley company facilities). An Eagle Scout, he served as scoutmaster of his local Boy Scout Troop for 15 years, and was Advisor of a High-Adventure Crew, and enjoys backpacking, fly fishing, guitar and amateur radio (call sign: KM6LH).