Carver Mead
Carver Mead is a Caltech electrical engineer whose silicon retinas, cochleas, neurons, and synapses helped bring brain-inspired computing into hardware. He studied electrical engineering at Caltech, then taught chip design and co-wrote Introduction to VLSI Systems with Lynn Conway. With Richard Feynman and John Hopfield, he co-taught The Physics of Computation, a course about links between brains and computers. His honors include the 1997 ACM/AAAI Allen Newell Award, the 2022 Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology, and a 2024 lifetime contribution award for neuromorphic engineering; he remains a Caltech professor emeritus.
Timeline
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1956–1960
From Fresno to Caltech
After high school in Fresno, he studied electrical engineering at Caltech, earning a B.S. in 1956, an M.S. in 1957, and a Ph.D. in 1960.
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1971–1978
Opening VLSI to designers
At Caltech, he began teaching a semiconductor devices course in 1971. With Lynn Conway, he wrote Introduction to VLSI Systems, first published in 1978; the book described multi-project chips that let students and engineers prototype designs on one wafer.
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1981–1983
Connecting brains and computers
He co-taught The Physics of Computation with Richard Feynman and John Hopfield, drawing questions about how brains and computers process information into a graduate course.
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1985–1995
Neural circuits in silicon
In Caltech's Physics of Computation Lab, he and his students developed integrated silicon retinas, cochleas, neurons, and synapses, along with systems that sent address-event spikes between chips.
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1997
An award across disciplines
The ACM/AAAI Allen Newell Award recognized his career contributions to computer science and work that bridged it with other disciplines.
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2022
A prize for VLSI design
The Inamori Foundation awarded him the Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology for his contributions to VLSI system design.
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2024
Recognized for neuromorphic work
He received a lifetime contribution award for neuromorphic engineering from the jury behind the Misha Mahowald Prizes.
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Since 1999
An emeritus post at Caltech
He is Caltech's Gordon and Betty Moore Professor of Engineering and Applied Science, Emeritus.
Sources and credits
Photo: Dick Lyon, via Wikimedia Commons. License: Public domain. Source: commons.wikimedia.org. Cropped to a square and resized. Ask us to remove or replace this photo.
- The Life of a Caltech "Lifer"
- Biography - Carver Mead
- How a Small Class at Caltech Helped Launch a Computer Revolution
- Carver Mead | Kyoto Prize
- The Roots of Neural Networks: How Caltech Research Paved the Way to Modern AI
- Carver Mead Earns Lifetime Contribution Award for Neuromorphic Engineering
- SIGAI Awards - ACM SIGAI
- Carver Mead - Caltech Directory