David G. Messerschmitt (born May 21, 1945) is an engineer and professor

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences in the

UC Berkeley College of Engineering The University of California, Berkeley College of Engineering, branded as Berkeley Engineering, is the engineering wing of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1931, the ...

. He retired from UC Berkeley in 2005. At present he is conducting research at Berkeley, is a visiting professor in the Software Business Laboratory at the

Helsinki University of Technology Helsinki University of Technology (TKK; fi, Teknillinen korkeakoulu; sv, Tekniska högskolan) was a technical university in Finland. It was located in Otaniemi, Espoo in the metropolitan area of Greater Helsinki. The university was founded in ...

, and is doing research on interstellar communications at the

SETI Institute The SETI Institute is a not-for-profit research organization incorporated in 1984 whose mission is to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe, and to use this knowledge to inspire and guide present and futu ...

. Messerschmitt also serves on the Advisory Council of

METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) METI International, known simply as METI, is a non-profit research organization that creates and transmits interstellar messages to attempt to communicate with extraterrestrial civilizations. In July 2015, the papers to form METI were filed by ...

Biography

His notable past research includes the advancement of digital transmission systems, including contributions that made

digital telephony Telephony ( ) is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunication services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is i ...

possible over the existing telephone network, the use of

VLSI Very large-scale integration (VLSI) is the process of creating an integrated circuit (IC) by combining millions or billions of MOS transistors onto a single chip. VLSI began in the 1970s when MOS integrated circuit (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) c ...

to realize functions in the telephone network, and VLSI architectures to solve

signal processing Signal processing is an electrical engineering subfield that focuses on analyzing, modifying and synthesizing ''signals'', such as audio signal processing, sound, image processing, images, and scientific measurements. Signal processing techniq ...

challenges. His work has increasingly been devoted to

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

. In 1984 Messerschmitt wrote Blosim, a software-based

block diagram A block diagram is a diagram of a system in which the principal parts or functions are represented by blocks connected by lines that show the relationships of the blocks.

simulation system for

digital signal processing Digital signal processing (DSP) is the use of digital processing, such as by computers or more specialized digital signal processors, to perform a wide variety of signal processing operations. The digital signals processed in this manner are ...

simulations. He also contributed to a successor to Blosim called

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

, which is still being actively developed and used. When the

UC Berkeley School of Information The University of California, Berkeley, School of Information, also known as the UC Berkeley School of Information or the I School, is a graduate school and, created in 1994, the newest of the schools at the University of California, Berkele ...

was created he co-founded courses on network applications and strategic technology, and later served as interim dean of the school. His research interests and curriculum development for the past decade have been largely devoted to the business of software and economics of the software industry. Messerschmitt graduated with a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from the University of Colorado in 1967, and received his

M.S. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in computer, information, and control engineering from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1971. He was a

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

researcher until 1977, when he left to take an academic position at Berkeley. In 1999 Messerschmitt received the

IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal The IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal is an award honoring ''"exceptional contributions to communications and networking sciences and engineering"'' in the field of telecommunications. The medal is one of the highest honors awarded by the Instit ...

"for fundamental contributions to communications theory and practice, including VLSI for signal processing, and simulation and modeling software". He was elected a member of the US

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...

in 1990 for contributions to telecommunication theory and practice and to engineering education. In 2007 Messerschmitt co-founded the Software business community (SWBC) in cooperation with the Helsinki University of Technology.

Books

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References

External links

Messerschmitt's bio at IEEE History Center
written 1999
Messerschmitt's page on the Software Business Community (SWBC) platform
{{DEFAULTSORT:Messerschmitt, David 1945 births Living people People from Denver American electrical engineers Scientists at Bell Labs University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni University of Colorado alumni UC Berkeley College of Engineering faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering