IEEE Oakland/East Bay LMAG

Date: Monday May 13, 2013

Time: 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Doors open at 6:00 PM

Place: Michaels at Shoreline
2960 North Shoreline Blvd.
Mountain View, CA 94043

Speaker: Paul Wesling
Life Fellow of the IEEE
IEEE SF Bay Area Communications Director and Webmaster

Title: The Origins of Silicon Valley:
Why and How It Happened Here

About the talk
Why did Silicon Valley come into being? The story goes back to local Hams (amateur radio operators) trying to break RCA's tube patents, the sinking of the Titanic, Naval ship communications requirements, 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. And since semiconductor device development and production were centered here, it made sense that Charles (Bud) Eldon of H-P would be asked by his management to start an IRE Group on Product Engineering in Palo Alto, to serve our local engineers (which grew into today's CPMT Society). Bud went on to become president of the IEEE.
Paul Wesling, a 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, 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, Bill Eitel, Charles Litton, Fred Terman, David Packard, Bill Hewlett and others -- who came to define the worldwide electronics industries through their inventions and process development. He'll end by telling us about some current local organizations that keep alive the spirit of the Hams, the Homebrew Computer Club, and the other entrepreneurial groups where geeks gather to invent the future.
About the Speaker
Paul Wesling received his BS in Electrical Engineering and his MS in Materials Science from Stanford University. Following assignments at GTE/Lenkurt Electric (component engineering), ISS/Sperry Univac (bubble memory development, reliability, manufacturing engineering), Datapoint Peripheral Products (VP - Product Integrity), and Amdahl (design analysis, mainframe testing, console peripherals), he joined Tandem Computer in Cupertino (now HP's NonStop Enterprise Division) in 1985. As a member of the development team for advanced IC packaging, he designed several multi-chip module prototypes, supervised their fabrication, and tested them. In Tandem's Education Group from 1993 to 2001, he developed courses on reliability, managed Tandem's Distinguished Lectures series, and served on education's Technology Initiative team. He organized a number of advanced technology and professional skills development 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 in the field of IC packaging. Paul retired from HP in 2001, and now serves as the Communications Director for the IEEE S.F. Bay Area's Council.
Mr. Wesling has published a number of technical and education papers, authored a book chapter, and is editor for an IEEE book series on Innovation Management. As CPMT's vice president of publications from 1985 through January, 2008, he supervised four archival journals and a newsletter, and oversaw authors for IEEE Press books. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, and received the IEEE Centennial Medal, the CPMT 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). 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 (KM6LH and K6BSA). He was selected as a torchbearer for the Atlanta Olympics Torch Relay in 1996, based on selection by the local United Way.

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Date:	Monday May 13, 2013
Time:	6:30 PM to 8:30 PM Doors open at 6:00 PM
Place:	Michaels at Shoreline 2960 North Shoreline Blvd. Mountain View, CA 94043
Speaker:	Paul Wesling Life Fellow of the IEEE IEEE SF Bay Area Communications Director and Webmaster
Title:	The Origins of Silicon Valley: Why and How It Happened Here
About the talk Why did Silicon Valley come into being? The story goes back to local Hams (amateur radio operators) trying to break RCA's tube patents, the sinking of the Titanic, Naval ship communications requirements, 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. And since semiconductor device development and production were centered here, it made sense that Charles (Bud) Eldon of H-P would be asked by his management to start an IRE Group on Product Engineering in Palo Alto, to serve our local engineers (which grew into today's CPMT Society). Bud went on to become president of the IEEE. Paul Wesling, a 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, 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, Bill Eitel, Charles Litton, Fred Terman, David Packard, Bill Hewlett and others -- who came to define the worldwide electronics industries through their inventions and process development. He'll end by telling us about some current local organizations that keep alive the spirit of the Hams, the Homebrew Computer Club, and the other entrepreneurial groups where geeks gather to invent the future. About the Speaker Paul Wesling received his BS in Electrical Engineering and his MS in Materials Science from Stanford University. Following assignments at GTE/Lenkurt Electric (component engineering), ISS/Sperry Univac (bubble memory development, reliability, manufacturing engineering), Datapoint Peripheral Products (VP - Product Integrity), and Amdahl (design analysis, mainframe testing, console peripherals), he joined Tandem Computer in Cupertino (now HP's NonStop Enterprise Division) in 1985. As a member of the development team for advanced IC packaging, he designed several multi-chip module prototypes, supervised their fabrication, and tested them. In Tandem's Education Group from 1993 to 2001, he developed courses on reliability, managed Tandem's Distinguished Lectures series, and served on education's Technology Initiative team. He organized a number of advanced technology and professional skills development 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 in the field of IC packaging. Paul retired from HP in 2001, and now serves as the Communications Director for the IEEE S.F. Bay Area's Council. Mr. Wesling has published a number of technical and education papers, authored a book chapter, and is editor for an IEEE book series on Innovation Management. As CPMT's vice president of publications from 1985 through January, 2008, he supervised four archival journals and a newsletter, and oversaw authors for IEEE Press books. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, and received the IEEE Centennial Medal, the CPMT 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). 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 (KM6LH and K6BSA). He was selected as a torchbearer for the Atlanta Olympics Torch Relay in 1996, based on selection by the local United Way.