Marcian hoff biography of george

Hoff was born in Rochester, New York. His degrees include a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1958) and an M.S. (1959) and a Ph.D. (1962), both in Electrical Engineering, from Stanford University. In the 1959-1960 time frame, he and his professor, Bernard Widrow, co-developed the LMS adaptive algorithm which is used in many modern communication systems, e.g. adaptive equalizers and noise-cancelling systems.

In 1968, he joined Intel Corporation as Manager of Applications Research and in 1969 proposed the architecture for the first monolithic microprocessor or computer central processor on a single chip, the Intel 4004, which was announced in 1971. He contributed to several other microprocessor designs, and then in 1975 started a group at Intel to develop products for telecommunications. His group produced the first commercially- available monolithic telephone CODEC, the first commercially-available switched-capacitor filter and one of the earliest digital signal processing chips, the Intel 2920. He became the first Intel Fellow when the position was created in 1980.

In 1983, he joined Atari as Vice President of Corporate Research and Development. In 1984, he left Atari to become an independent consultant. In 1986, he joined Teklicon, a company specializing in assistance to attorneys dealing with intellectual property litigation, as Chief Technologist, where he remained until he retired in 2007.

He has been recognized with numerous awards, primarily for his microprocessor contributions. Those awards include the Kyoto Prize, the Stuart Ballantine Medal and Certificate of Merit from the Franklin Institute, induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame, the George R. Stivitz Computer Pioneer Award, the Semiconductor Industry 50th Anniversary Award, the Eduard Rhein Foundation Technology Award, the Ron Brown Innovation Award, the Davies Medal and induction into their Hall of

Marcian “Ted” Hoff (PhD '62 EE), is best known as the architect of the first microprocessor. Intel’s 4004 was released in November 1971, 35 years ago this month. The history that his ingenuity helped spawn is now the subject of a new DVD, the Microprocessor Chronicles. Hoff came to Stanford for graduate work after being an undergraduate at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Upstate New York, the region where he grew up. His career has morphed from engineering to litigation consulting, and his journey is full of interesting stories.

What was your path to Intel?

I used to play with vacuum tube circuits when I was in high school. When I graduated in 1954, I got a summer job in the company where my father worked. I always considered myself lucky to have had that job because I got to work with both magnetic cores and transistors. The transistor was only seven years old, and core memory was the major technology for computer memory. After I got my bachelor's degree, I came to Stanford to do graduate work in electrical engineering. I got a master's degree in 1959, and then did research on adaptive systems under the guidance of Professor Bernard Widrow. Together, we developed the LMS algorithm for adaptive systems, still used in modems, etc. to this day. I got my PhD in 1962 and stayed on doing government-sponsored research on adaptive systems. During that time professor Bob Pritchard, who I believe came to Stanford from Motorola, started courses in integrated circuit design. Someone suggested that I be a guinea pig for his lab course. It seems like everything went wrong in that course, but it showed how difficult it was to make integrated circuits. It was a learning experience. In the meantime, I talked about technology with Rex Rice, who often did on-campus recruiting for Fairchild Semiconductor. One thing we discussed was the possibility of semiconductor memory because, having worked with magnetic cores and knowi

November 16, 1973, unveiled a chapter of exalted brilliance in the enduring saga of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, as its luminary alumnus, Ivar Giaever of the Class of 1964, ascended onto the world stage, co-securing the coveted Nobel Prize in Physics. This wasn’t just a pinnacle of personal achievement for Giaever, but a monumental first in Rensselaer’s two-century-long legacy, casting a luminary glow on its cradle of intellectual nurturance. The Nobel laurel not only immortalized Giaever’s profound explorations into the realm of Physics, but also emblemized Rensselaer’s steadfast commitment to fostering minds capable of delving into the cosmos’ enigmatic depths. The echoes of this historic triumph reverberated through Rensselaer’s halls, weaving a narrative of aspiration and excellence for generations of scholars. A herald of Rensselaer’s intellectual lineage, Giaever’s Nobel moment shines across time, embodying the essence of scholarly transcendence in the grand tapestry of Rensselaer’s 200-year chronicle.

Marcian “Ted” Hoff — architect of the Intel 4004, the first microprocessor

Marcian “Ted” Hoff is best known as the architect of the first microprocessor — the Intel 4004. Released in November 1971, the 4004 sparked the microprocessor revolution that came to define Silicon Valley.

Hoff earned both his master’s degree and PhD in electrical engineering at Stanford, where he studied under a National Science Foundation Fellowship. As the 12 employee of Intel, he devised a computing architecture that combined memory, calculating and processing on one circuit rather than scattering them among many custom-designed circuits. The result was the Intel 4004, which opened the door to breakthroughs in personal computing, communications and the Internet.

Hoff was the first Intel Fellow, the highest technical position in the company. He is a U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation winner, a recipient of the IEEE/RSE Wolfson James Clerk Maxwell Award and has been named to the National Inventors Hall of Fame.