Barrie Gilbert (5 June 1937 – 30 January 2020) was an English-American electrical engineer. He was well known for his invention of numerous analog circuit concepts, holding over 100 patents worldwide, and for the discovery of the

Translinear Principle A translinear circuit is a circuit that carries out its function using the translinear principle. These are current-mode circuits that can be made using transistors that obey an exponential current-voltage characteristic—this includes BJTs and C ...

. His name is attributed to a class of related topologies loosely referred to as the Gilbert cell, one of which is a mixer - a key frequency translation device - used in every modern wireless communication device. A similar topology, for use as a synchronous demodulator, was invented by Howard Jones in 1963. Gilbert was born in Bournemouth, England. During the 1950s he pursued an interest in solid-state devices while at

Mullard Mullard Limited was a British manufacturer of electronic components. The Mullard Radio Valve Co. Ltd. of Southfields, London, was founded in 1920 by Captain Stanley R. Mullard, who had previously designed thermionic valves for the Admir ...

, working on the development of early transistors, and later, the first-generation planar ICs. After some pioneering development of sampling oscillography he emigrated to the United States in 1964 to pursue this interest at

Tektronix Tektronix, Inc., historically widely known as Tek, is an American company best known for manufacturing test and measurement devices such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. Originally an independent ...

, Beaverton,

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, where he developed the first electronic knob-readout system and other advances in instrumentation. He returned to England in 1970, where he was Group Leader at Plessey Research Laboratories, managing a team developing OCR systems and integrated circuits (ICs) for communications applications. From 1972-1977 he consulted for Analog Devices Inc., Wilmington, MA, designing several ICs embodying novel nonlinear concepts. He returned to the USA and Tektronix in 1977 to pursue HF ICs and process development. In 1979, Analog Devices allowed Gilbert to create the first remote design center for the Company, in Oregon, to persuade him to rejoin the company as their first Fellow. This center developed into the Northwest Labs. On February 4, 2020, Analog Devices announced that Gilbert had died.

Awards and honors

In 1984, Gilbert became a Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). For pioneering work on merged logic, he received the IEEE "Outstanding Achievement Award" (1970) and later the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Council "Outstanding Development Award" (1986). He was Oregon Researcher of the Year in 1990 and he received the

IEEE Solid-State Circuits Award The IEEE Donald O. Pederson Award in Solid-State Circuits is a Technical Field Award of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It was previously called the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Award. In November 2005 the award was re ...

(1992) "For contributions to non-linear analog

signal processing Signal processing is an electrical engineering subfield that focuses on analyzing, modifying and synthesizing ''signals'', such as sound, images, and scientific measurements. Signal processing techniques are used to optimize transmissions, ...

circuits". He has five times received the ISSCC Outstanding Paper Award. He held an Honorary Doctorate from Oregon State University. In 2009, Gilbert was elected to the U.S.

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 of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Barrie 1937 births 2020 deaths 21st-century American engineers 20th-century American inventors English emigrants to the United States Analog electronics engineers Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering People from Beaverton, Oregon Tektronix people