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Geoffrey Dummer AI simulator
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Geoffrey Dummer AI simulator
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Geoffrey Dummer
Geoffrey William Arnold Dummer (25 February 1909 – 9 September 2002) was an English electronics engineer and consultant, who is credited as being the first person to popularise the concepts that ultimately led to the development of the integrated circuit, commonly called the microchip, in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Dummer passed the first radar trainers and became a pioneer of reliability engineering at the Telecommunications Research Establishment in Malvern in the 1940s. Dummer studied electrical engineering at Manchester College of Technology starting in the early 1930s. By the early 1940s he was working at the Telecommunications Research Establishment in Malvern (later to become the Royal Radar Establishment).
His work with colleagues at TRE led him to the belief that it would be possible to fabricate multiple circuit elements on and into a substance like silicon. In 1952 he became one of the first people to speak publicly on the topic of integrated circuits, presenting his conceptual work at a conference in Washington, DC. As a result, he has been called "the prophet of the integrated circuit".
Dummer was admitted to a nursing home in Malvern in 2000 due to a stroke and died in September 2002, aged 93.
G. W. A. Dummer was born in Hull, Yorkshire, England, 25 February 1909, and educated at Sale High School and Manchester College of Technology. His first job was with Mullard Radio Valve Company in 1931 examining defective valves returned by customers to establish the cause of failure, the company's aim being to attribute the cause to rough handling to avoid having to supply free replacements. Technicians were expected to process up to 1000 valves per day.
In 1935 he moved to A. C. Cossor Ltd to work on cathode ray tubes, time bases and circuits. In 1938 he moved to Salford Electrical Instruments and worked in the high-frequency laboratories. The following year he joined the Ministry of Defence as a Technical Officer on a salary of £275 per annum and worked with the team under R. J. Dippy on time bases at the Air Ministry Research Establishment (later known as the Telecommunications Research Establishment [TRE], the Royal Radar Establishment (RRE), Malvern and the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment). The group was responsible for the first plan position indicator (PPI) ever built, and they were granted two patents for their work.
The pace of development increased dramatically during the early war years for the personnel of RRE, Malvern, and a close working relationship was established with the Royal Air Force. In 1942 Geoffrey Dummer started a Synthetic Trainer Design Group and was responsible for the design, manufacture, installation and servicing of over 70 types of radar training equipment for service use during the war. In 1943 he visited the United States and Canada to advise on trainers and to help set up similar training devices in the USA.
In 1944 he had been made Divisional Leader of the Physical & Tropical Testing Laboratories and the Component Group, which placed contracts with industry for new components and materials. His interest in components grew out of his experience with radar. "They were the bricks and mortar, and many of them were not as reliable as they should have been", he said. Out of his drive for reliability came the search for new techniques and methods of construction. Together with Dr A. C. Vivian he made the first plastic potted circuit in January 1947 to protect components from shock and moisture. Printed wiring methods and etching techniques were explored, and their use encouraged in radar equipment.
On May 7, 1952 Geoffrey Dummer read a paper at the US Electronic Components Symposium. At the end of the paper he made the statement: "With the advent of the transistor and the work on semi-conductors generally, it now seems possible to envisage electronic equipment in a solid block with no connecting wires. The block may consist of layers of insulating, conducting, rectifying and amplifying materials, the electronic functions being connected directly by cutting out areas of the various layers".
Geoffrey Dummer
Geoffrey William Arnold Dummer (25 February 1909 – 9 September 2002) was an English electronics engineer and consultant, who is credited as being the first person to popularise the concepts that ultimately led to the development of the integrated circuit, commonly called the microchip, in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Dummer passed the first radar trainers and became a pioneer of reliability engineering at the Telecommunications Research Establishment in Malvern in the 1940s. Dummer studied electrical engineering at Manchester College of Technology starting in the early 1930s. By the early 1940s he was working at the Telecommunications Research Establishment in Malvern (later to become the Royal Radar Establishment).
His work with colleagues at TRE led him to the belief that it would be possible to fabricate multiple circuit elements on and into a substance like silicon. In 1952 he became one of the first people to speak publicly on the topic of integrated circuits, presenting his conceptual work at a conference in Washington, DC. As a result, he has been called "the prophet of the integrated circuit".
Dummer was admitted to a nursing home in Malvern in 2000 due to a stroke and died in September 2002, aged 93.
G. W. A. Dummer was born in Hull, Yorkshire, England, 25 February 1909, and educated at Sale High School and Manchester College of Technology. His first job was with Mullard Radio Valve Company in 1931 examining defective valves returned by customers to establish the cause of failure, the company's aim being to attribute the cause to rough handling to avoid having to supply free replacements. Technicians were expected to process up to 1000 valves per day.
In 1935 he moved to A. C. Cossor Ltd to work on cathode ray tubes, time bases and circuits. In 1938 he moved to Salford Electrical Instruments and worked in the high-frequency laboratories. The following year he joined the Ministry of Defence as a Technical Officer on a salary of £275 per annum and worked with the team under R. J. Dippy on time bases at the Air Ministry Research Establishment (later known as the Telecommunications Research Establishment [TRE], the Royal Radar Establishment (RRE), Malvern and the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment). The group was responsible for the first plan position indicator (PPI) ever built, and they were granted two patents for their work.
The pace of development increased dramatically during the early war years for the personnel of RRE, Malvern, and a close working relationship was established with the Royal Air Force. In 1942 Geoffrey Dummer started a Synthetic Trainer Design Group and was responsible for the design, manufacture, installation and servicing of over 70 types of radar training equipment for service use during the war. In 1943 he visited the United States and Canada to advise on trainers and to help set up similar training devices in the USA.
In 1944 he had been made Divisional Leader of the Physical & Tropical Testing Laboratories and the Component Group, which placed contracts with industry for new components and materials. His interest in components grew out of his experience with radar. "They were the bricks and mortar, and many of them were not as reliable as they should have been", he said. Out of his drive for reliability came the search for new techniques and methods of construction. Together with Dr A. C. Vivian he made the first plastic potted circuit in January 1947 to protect components from shock and moisture. Printed wiring methods and etching techniques were explored, and their use encouraged in radar equipment.
On May 7, 1952 Geoffrey Dummer read a paper at the US Electronic Components Symposium. At the end of the paper he made the statement: "With the advent of the transistor and the work on semi-conductors generally, it now seems possible to envisage electronic equipment in a solid block with no connecting wires. The block may consist of layers of insulating, conducting, rectifying and amplifying materials, the electronic functions being connected directly by cutting out areas of the various layers".
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