Quick Facts
Biography
Robert Allen Pease (August 22, 1940 – June 18, 2011) was an analog integrated circuit design expert and technical author. Hedesigned several very successful "best-seller" integrated circuits, many of them in continuous production for multiple decades. These include the LM331 voltage-to-frequency converter, and the LM337 adjustable negative voltage regulator (complement to the LM317).
Life and career
Pease was born on August 22, 1940 in Rockville, Connecticut. 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 designer and applications engineer, where he began designing analog monolithic integrated circuits, as well as design reference circuits using these devices.He had advanced to staff scientist by the time of his departure in 2009.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.
THOR-LVX (photo-nuclear) microtron Advanced Explosives contraband Detection System: "A Dual-Purpose Ion-Accelerator for Nuclear-Reaction-Based Explosives-and SNM-Detection in Massive Cargo" was the last project he was designing for.
Pease was the author of eight books, including Troubleshooting Analog Circuits, and held 21 patents.
His other interests included hiking and biking in remote places, and working on his old Volkswagen Beetle, which he often mentioned in his columns. 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".
My favorite programming language is ... solder.
Death
Pease was killed in the crash of his 1969 Volkswagen Beetle, on June 18, 2011. 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. The sudden death of Pease triggered a small flood of remembrances and tributes from fellow technical writers, practicing engineers, and electronics hardware hacking enthusiasts.
Publications (partial)
- Pease, Robert A. (December 1984). "A new Fahrenheit temperature sensor". IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits. 19 (6): 971–977. doi:10.1109/JSSC.1984.1052253.
- Troubleshooting Analog Circuits. EDN Series for Design Engineers. Newnes. 1991. ISBN 978-0-7506-9499-5. – An industry standard bench-top reference book for troubleshooting (and designing) analog circuits
- Pease, Bob. How to Drive Into Accidents ... and How Not To [An idiosyncratic, entertaining, and insightful book on safe driving techniques, written for novices and experienced drivers alike]. transtronix. San Francisco: self-published. ISBN 978-0-9655648-1-6. Archived from the original on June 8, 2001. Retrieved 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.
- Pease, Robert A., ed. (2008). Analog Circuits: World Class Designs. Newnes. ISBN 978-0-7506-8627-3.
- Ashby, Darren; Baker, Bonnie; Ball, Stuart; Crowe, J.; Hayes-Gill, Barrie; Hickman, Ian; Kester, Walt; Mancini, Ron; Grout, Ian; Pease, Robert; Tooley, Mike; Williams, Tim; Wilson, Peter; Zeidman, Bob (2008). Circuit Design: Know It All. The Newnes Know It All Series. Newnes. ISBN 978-1-85617-527-2.
- 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 in July 25, 1991