Home
Jim Williams, Hewlett's Remarkable Sine Wave Oscillator
In 1938 a pair of young engineers named Hewlett and Packard began work (in the proverbial "garage") on a commercial product, based on a novel variant of the Wien bridge sinewave oscillator that Hewlett devised as part of his graduate thesis at Stanford, in which he made use of new concepts and ideas by Nyquist, Black, and Meacham. On Jan 1, 1939, they formalized their partnership, deciding the company's name with a flip of a coin. As the saying goes, "the rest is history." How does this invention look, with the hindsight of contemporary electronics? In a word, stunning. Hewlett possessed an uncanny knack for combining diverse ideas to achieve a result on a higher plane. The oscillator is a beautiful example of lateral thinking: the whole problem was considered in an inter disciplinary spirit, and not just from the standpoint of traditional circuit design. This is the signature of superior problem solving, and admirable engineering. Although the theoretics and technology now look quaint, the quality of Hewlett's thinking remains rare, and singularly human. No computer-driven "expert system" could emulate such lateral thinking, advertising copy to the contrary notwithstanding. The talk will conclude with contemporary adaptations of Hewlett's guidance. HANDOUTS: Hewlett's thesis, a detailed production schematic of the oscillator, and contemporary versions of the circuit. DOOR PRIZE (!): Jim's hand-built "Oliver Network Study"
| What |
|
|---|---|
| When |
Nov 13, 2009 from 03:00 pm to 04:00 pm |
| Where | Maxwell Dworkin G125 |
| Add event to calendar |
 vCal iCal
|