I am very sad to hear of Gilbert's death.
I corresponded by email with Barrie maybe 10 years ago. He was still a great thinker - we were discussing AI. His take was that AI was impossible, but that the future was in Augmented Reality. It was a conversation that quickly exceeded my grasp of the subject!
RIP Barrie - analogue design titan. At Tek he was responsible for the on-screen readout on 7000 series scopes, and what was to become known as the Gilbert Cell that was used in the custom Tek amplifier chips. Analog Devices wooed him away from Tek by building a whole facility in Beaverton as a play pen for him.
Here he is in full flow describing the translinear circuit in 1991 (age 54) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQNJVtcFrCc
At one stage in the video he is talking about the 2-transistor current mirror. What he does't say is that he had a bet with Bob Widlar to design a minimum parts count current mirror. Gilbert managed a three transistor one, and Widlar came up with the 2 transistor one that bears his name and is used in every op amp chip since (and most AB power amps). So Gilbert lost that wager!
I corresponded by email with Barrie maybe 10 years ago. He was still a great thinker - we were discussing AI. His take was that AI was impossible, but that the future was in Augmented Reality. It was a conversation that quickly exceeded my grasp of the subject!
RIP Barrie - analogue design titan. At Tek he was responsible for the on-screen readout on 7000 series scopes, and what was to become known as the Gilbert Cell that was used in the custom Tek amplifier chips. Analog Devices wooed him away from Tek by building a whole facility in Beaverton as a play pen for him.
Here he is in full flow describing the translinear circuit in 1991 (age 54) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQNJVtcFrCc
At one stage in the video he is talking about the 2-transistor current mirror. What he does't say is that he had a bet with Bob Widlar to design a minimum parts count current mirror. Gilbert managed a three transistor one, and Widlar came up with the 2 transistor one that bears his name and is used in every op amp chip since (and most AB power amps). So Gilbert lost that wager!
