Remembering Jim Williams, 5 years later
Paul Rako - June 10, 2016
Famous analog engineer Jim Williams died of a stroke on June 12, 2011. Jane Reiser Williams, Jim’s
sister, told me, “I need to take a moment to swallow and breathe; can it really be 5 years since I lost
my darling brother? It seems like yesterday and yet it also is, painfully, forever.”
Jim was best-known as the most popular contributed writer at EDN. He did many of those articles as
part of his duties as an application engineer at Linear Technology as well as National
Semiconductor. His earliest articles were as a lab tech at MIT, and as an engineer with Arthur D
Little consulting.
Len Sherman, senior scientist at Maxim Integrated Products recalls, ”My first job out of school was
in Jim's MIT lab in the famous Building 20, now torn down. For a new EE grad like me, that lab was
the perfect place to be. We re-purposed surplus electronics, fixed test equipment, built tons of
equipment from scratch, and simply had a blast. Sometimes literally. Jim's lab was the real MIT
education for myself and a bunch of other people. We worked, did projects, or just hung out. I can't
imagine what my engineering life would have been like without that experience. I'm sure it would
have been nowhere near as interesting.”
Despite Linear Tech making high-performance analog chips, Williams used classic test equipment,
like vintage Tektronix oscilloscopes and old HP equipment. That may have been inspired from his
work at MIT as a young man, keeping the lab equipment working and designing custom circuits.
Paul Grohe, a friend and fellow application engineer at Texas Instruments notes, “Jim’s love of old
hardware may be due in part to the fact that you can still fix those old scopes. The new stuff is full of
hybrids and proprietary chips that can only be repaired at a factory service center.” When I visited
Tek up in Portland, I made sure to get a Tektronix baseball cap from the marketing folks. I presented
it to Jim later that month, and on August 14, 2009, Jim posed with the hat between his two favorite
Tek scopes. It was probably not the hardware Tek marketing wanted to showcase, but hey, I put it
down to brand awareness.
Fran Hoffart, a co-worker of Jim’s at both National Semi and Linear Tech observes, “Jim loved going
to the monthly electronic flea market. He once said that he would pay more for non-working test
equipment than a working one, this way he could figure out how it works and fix it. If a fellow
engineer had some non-working test equipment, simply placing it near Jim’s bench would often
result in it being repaired by the next morning.”
Williams’ lab area was so crowded with circuits, parts, and equipment he would enlist the aid of a
chair for laying out proofs of his articles, app notes, or other documentation. His collection of app
notes were collated into two best-selling books. That is pretty amazing in view of the fact that all of
the articles were published on the EDN or Linear Tech website. Bob Dobkin, Linear CEO and a cowriter of the books, noted, “Jim wanted these books released. It was very difficult working on the
books without him.”
Image courtesy of Fran Hoffart.
One of Williams’ quirks was his love of working in shorts, which was casual even by Silicon Valley
standards. Microsoft engineer Jon Dutra worked for Linear Tech years ago. He was in Williams’
office, talking about analog circuits, Jim’s favorite topic. Suddenly, Jim looked at his watch, uttered
an epithet and ran to his office door. He dropped his shorts, grabbed a pair of long pants hanging
behind the door and was pulling them on while hopping out the door. Dutra recalled Williams calling
back over his shoulder “I have to go see [Linear CEO] Bob Swanson, and he really hates my shorts!”
It was not just shorts he loved. Williams always wore boat shoes. Jim bought a pair of shoes and
really liked them, so he immediately went right back and bought 10 pairs, presumably a lifetime
supply.
Hoffart recalls, “Jim was also a prankster. One prank involved the lab wall clock. It would run fast
one day, get replaced, then would run slow, get replaced again, then would run backwards. He
didn’t reveal how he got it to run backwards until years later.” Williams confided to me that he
carefully ground the pole shoes on the motor to make it run backwards. Jim’s lab
Williams was an inveterate lab rat. He had an expansive window office at Linear Tech, but spent
most of his time in the lab. Hoffart worked at the adjoining bench. “The hardest thing was coming to
work after he died and not see him sitting at his bench,” Hoffart recounts. Williams would build up
hundreds, if not thousands, of prototype circuits on plain copper-clad circuit board. He tested the
boards with one of the banks of stacked test equipment. Williams and I both dislike touchscreen test
equipment, preferring real knobs that click and snap into position.
Image courtesy of Fran Hoffart. Click to enlarge.
The scopes at Jim’s lab area had character. The setup below was used by Hoffart, who was an ideal
neighbor to Williams’ bench. Williams used to complain about the anti-static floor tiles in the lab,
saying they cost more than a scope or network analyzer. The lab area was not tidy, but everything
was in position to assist in the troubleshooting and design of high-performance analog circuits.
Click to enlarge.
You could be envious of even one half of Williams’ bench, but the photo below was just one side of
the aisle where he worked. He had an equally-full bench on the left side, out of this picture’s view. In
the immediate foreground you can see two Tek high-voltage probes that Williams used on some of
the more dangerous projects. He was both intellectually and constitutionally fearless. You can see a
chair used as a file cabinet again. The box was full of folders with Williams’ EDN articles when we
were going through his history. He published over 60 EDN articles in the 1980s. He did this while
working as an app engineer, presenter, and mentor at Linear Tech. The writing was not even his fulltime job.
Click to enlarge.
Williams’ office was more a performance art installation than a place to do paperwork. His desk had
dozens of engineering curiosities. You can barely see the red Jaguar car model, representing the Jag
that Williams drove. He criticized my time with Ford, over the low quality. I told him god invented
Lotus cars so Jaguar owners had somebody to laugh at. On his corkboard he propped the dozens of
CCFL (cold-cathode florescent lamp) power supplies he designed, mostly for Apple notebooks.
Dobkin recalls, “When we changed buildings and offices, Jim took a picture of his old office and
positioned items in the same place in his new office.”
Click to enlarge.
The chaos of Jim’s lab bench and desk was not replicated at his home lab in his attic in Palo Alto.
Jim’s wife Siu told me he was pretty constant in leaving Linear Tech at 4:45 or so. A co-worker
noted, “Oh, he is not done working, he is just changing labs.” Leaving early allowed Williams to
spend less time in traffic, away from the circuits he so loved.
Image courtesy of Fran Hoffart. Click to enlarge.
Robert Reay, vice president and general manager of mixed-signal products at Linear Tech observes,
“Jim’s home lab was very well organized, and the complete opposite of the LTC lab. My method of
gauging lab organization is to observe the banana cable racks. In Jim’s home lab they were neatly
organized by type, length, and color. My conclusion is that Jim’s LTC lab bench had become so
iconic, that he was forced to keep it as it was to maintain its reputation.”
Image courtesy of Ron Quan. Click to enlarge.
Jim’s bench had become such a Silicon Valley legend that the Computer History Museum moved
Williams’ bench from the lab at Linear to an installation that ran for over six months in the museum.
After that period, Linear Tech moved it back to a second-floor lab in building 5, their “Guru’s lair.”
That same large picture of Jim adorns the wall. One of the young lab techs told me “It makes me
more careful and diligent. It looks like he is watching me wherever I go in the room.” Analog is art
Despite his engineering, writing, and customer-support duties, Williams also went out to do
presentations and meet with customers. He did a great presentation at the AES (audio engineers
society) conference, where he talked about restoring the first HP oscillator model. He refused to
disclose what he spent to acquire it, since his wife was in the audience and he said, “She would kill
me if she knew how much it cost.” Hoffart noted, “Jim loved HP test equipment.”
This 6.331 invited lecture took place in December 2009. Image courtesy of Fran Hoffart.
Click to enlarge.
Williams always maintained that analog circuit design is art. He took this to the literal sense, by
making working circuits arranged in fascinating and visually appealing configurations. He also
appreciated the art of any working circuit. He had the electronics of a Minuteman missile unfurled
on his living room wall.
Image courtesy of Fran Hoffart. Click to enlarge.
Williams’ circuits and electronic sculpture were art, but his clear schematics were artistic in their
own right. Below is the schematic of the current-measuring circuit Jim used to evaluate watch
crystals. Jim told me he had the Heisenberg problem, measuring the minuscule currents would affect
the circuit, changing the frequency of operation. He was able to figure that out and compensate for
it. Williams did a video describing the circuit. I was with the camera crew when Jim said he was busy
but he was sure he could do the video in one take. The crew was skeptical and the camera person
told me that it never happens, an amateur just pulling it off in one take. Jim did it in one take.
Click to enlarge.
Many great men have a great woman behind them. Jim’s wife Siu was in front of him. Jim was so
anti-digital that he didn’t own a computer. This made things difficult when working with EDN three
time zones away. So Siu gave us her personal email address. If things got crazy and we need to
email Jim, we knew Siu would get it to him. In the weeks before he died Jim and Siu had a vacation
in Hawaii. Jim told me it was the best vacation of his life. He was so happy that it was the first
vacation he ever had where he did not want to come home. It took a lot to stop Jim thinking about
circuits, but Siu could do it.
Image courtesy of Fran Hoffart
Every engineer should miss Jim Williams and mourn his passing. Jim loved the demanding design
specialty that is analog engineering. How analog was Williams? He was so analog even his digital
clock was analog. Now that is an analog aficionado.
As I sifted through thousands of pictures, I found a snapshot I took of an early prototype of Jim’s
acoustic thermometer (below). Just as fascinating is the bowl of components along side it.
Everything about Williams was unique, from his prototypes to his interest in arcane and obscure
gizmos.
Click to enlarge.
Jim’s friends remember
In the photo below, Jim is admiring a frequency standard bought by his CTO pal Dennis Monticelli at
a CHRS (California Historical Radio Society) flea market on August 7, 2010. Jim loved his fellow
engineers and would have a great time at the flea markets, or parties, or seminars. To me that was
his most remarkable characteristic. Sure, brilliant mind, successful engineer, nice house, pretty
wife, all wonderful things, but perhaps the most wonderful thing about Jim is that he was a social
animal. I wrote him a note decades ago, and he wrote me back, then came and visited my consulting
shop, and commenced a great friendship that got deeper every year. He would call me up, almost
once week, just to say hi and see what I was working on.
Jim Williams never tried to show people up with his smarts, he just wanted to help them. I had
engineers call me up asking about one of Jim’s articles in EDN. I asked why they were calling me,
and not Jim. “Oh, I don’t want to bother him, he won’t want to talk to a lowly engineer.” I gave those
folks Jim’s number at Linear Tech. I explained he did not have voice-mail, but he always would pick
up if he was there. If not, the call would go to the Linear Tech receptionist, who would be sure to
give Jim the message. I had several of those engineers write back or call me in amazement, talking
about how Williams not only answered, but would talk with them for an hour about some intractable
problem. When I asked Jim, he looked surprised and said, “Heck, I am an application engineer. It’s
my job to listen to their problems, and to help fix those problems.” The world is a lesser place
without Jim Williams answering the phone and fixing our problems.
Jim’s friends remember
Todd Nelson, mixed signal applications engineering manager at Linear Tech notes, "Jim's legacy is
timeless. Yes, he made his name when application circuits were made with discretes, often dead-bug
or air-wired, which is nearly impossible today. Little was simulated, none required software
programming. Yet even today, you can read his articles and feel the joy he brought to his work. He
had an amazing ability to teach and his style worked no matter what your background or level of
experience. He drew you in and made you smile. Like a good movie where you stay and watch the
credits, you read every word of Jim's application notes. Even the appendix and the cartoon. He
thought about every detail - that every solder joint is a thermocouple (and he would deliberately
slice a trace and solder it back together to balance another joint); that every transistor had its quirks
and you needed to get to know them; that every wire is an antenna; and especially that
measurement was as important as the circuit itself. He taught us so much more than how his circuits
work."
Steve Pietkiewicz, vice president and general manager of power products at Linear Tech relates,
“When Jim was married to Celia (mother of his son Michael), they both worked and neither could
bother to cook dinner. Their freezer was filled with microwave dinners. They’d open the freezer and
say, ‘What’s for dinner?’ One of them would take out a package, say, ‘What about this one? Nah,
look, this takes 4 minutes on defrost and then 2 minutes on high! No good!’ Back in the freezer it
would go. Another one would be examined, ‘How’s this one? Great, only 3 minutes on high! Sounds
good to me!’ It was so funny, the important metric was how long it took to cook in the microwave,
not what the food was. Jim also would never microwave something for 10, 20, or 30 seconds. He said
it took too long to move his finger from the 1 or 2 or 3 to the 0. Instead, he microwaved stuff for 11
seconds, or 22, or 33. Every time I use a microwave, when I need 10, or 20, or 30 seconds I too set it
for 11, or 22, or 33 seconds, and think of Jim.”
Professor Thomas H. Lee of Stanford University remembers, “Jim was famously generous. While
walking with him at the De Anza Electronics Flea Market I joked that I couldn't find any Tek 547
oscilloscopes in decent condition. It was rumored he had scooped up all the good ones in the Valley,
and most of the bad ones as well, to keep the good ones good. Next thing I know, we're headed to
Linear Tech, whereupon he pulls a dusty but pristine 547 out from underneath his famous bench.
‘This one's straight from the factory. I powered it up not long ago, and everything should work great.
Let's turn it on and make sure.’ The fantastic pencil-thin trace came on and all was indeed good.
That 547 is a cherished heirloom and reminder of Jim's big heart.”
Lee continues, “His generosity didn't stop there. Beyond sharing an unhealthy obsession with Tek
scopes, we shared an appreciation of the history of our craft. At another eFlea, he asked me if I
would like to meet Julius ‘Julie’ Blank, one of the "Traitorous Eight" who left Shockley
Semiconductor to found Fairchild. I replied ‘That's a trick question, right? Just tell me where to show
up, and when!’ Jim and his wonderful wife Siu hosted an unforgettable dinner at their lovely home.
Julie had participated in a film about Silicon Valley, The Real Revolutionaries. He shared a couple of
great stories. I was privileged to dine with two greats, and am saddened that they're no longer with
us.”
Jim’s sister Jane Reiser Williams recalls, “Jim was noted for his genius and his accomplishments,
but that was a minuscule part of the brother I knew and loved. He was my buddy in arms, growing
up so close in age, and so active in our pranks together. He was kind, funny, and sweet. He lived by
a strong set of personal ethics that he learned from our father, and he did not compromise them. He
loved his son Michael dearly, and cherished Siu with all his heart. He reached out to his siblings
whenever they were in need. He was generous with our mother in his compassion for her twelveyear struggle with Alzheimer’s, and with his support of me as I coordinated her care. He was my
rock, my voice of sanity, and one of the few people who could make me giggle. Impressive as a
scientist, yes, but more importantly: a truly good man. As this 5th anniversary arrives, I will light a
Yahrzeit memorial candle for him as I do every year, and sigh sadly that I will never again pick up
the phone to hear that sunny greeting: ‘It’s your brother!’”
Len Sherman adds, “In the MIT lab Jim had a blue zippered rectangular bag framed on the wall. He
told me when he first got to Cambridge from Detroit, he went to Lincoln Labs, a research lab
associated with MIT, to get an electronics job. They told him with no degree he could be either a
janitor or a mail boy. He took the mail boy job because he figured he could get around to all the labs
and see what people were doing. After a few months of carrying mail in that pouch, he talked his
way into a technicians job. That was his start in tech.”
Robert Reay, vice president and general manager of mixed-signal products at Linear Tech
reminisces, “Jim always made time for people when they asked for advice, and he treated everyone
with the same warmth and respect that we all knew, whether they were a lab technician, or a
visiting CEO. Just after starting at LTC in 1988, I began setting up a lab at home, but I didn’t have
any equipment or money. I mentioned the lab to Jim, and the next day there was a Tektronix curve
tracer sitting in my cubicle as a lab-warming gift. Just before Jim’s death, we were working on a
current pulse generator for testing power supplies. I mentioned to Jim that my current probe at
home did not have enough range to measure high currents. The next day, there was a Tektronix
current probe unit sitting in my office.”
Bob Dobkin, Linear Technology co-founder and CTO remembers, “I had been friends with Jim for
35 years when he died. It was a great loss and I still feel it. Jim loved teaching as well as electronics.
With new products at Linear Tech, Jim would undertake to teach people about the products as well
as the techniques for testing that kind of product. Sometimes this resulted in huge app notes with
many tutorial sections. Jim got many calls from students with questions. Not only would he answer
the questions, he would send them parts to work with. His love of circuits and teaching show up in
the number of app notes he has done. Jim said he had the best job in the world: ‘I get to work on
circuits and they pay me too!’”
John Hamburger, director of marketing communications at Linear Technology recalls, “I remember
his welcome when you arrived in his lab. If he wasn’t immersed in a circuit—and sometimes even if
he was—he would look up and say, “What’s shakin’?” I’d sit on a stool beside his bench and discuss
everything under the sun, from analog circuits he was wrestling with, to the San Francisco 49ers, to
the Rolling Stones, to politics. Jim took the time with so many of us. I remember sitting in his lab
years ago, the afternoon before the EDN Innovation Awards dinner, which he always looked forward
to attending. We were shooting the breeze, when he suddenly looked up and asked, ‘What time is
it.?’ I told him it was 2:30. He said, ‘I’ve got to get out of here.’ When I asked him why, he said that
his wife expected him home, so he would have time to put on his tuxedo for the EDN Awards dinner.
Jim always wore his tux to the EDN Innovation Awards. It was a part of his literary life that meant so
much to him.”
His family requests that donations in Jim’s memory be made to
The Parkinson's Institute, 675
Almanor Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94085.
Paul Rako is an engineer that writes and a writer that engineers at Rako Studios.
Also see:
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Jim Williams' contributions to EDN
Jim Williams: Circuits as art
Jim Williams: The light side and classic electronics art sculptures
Slideshow: Remembering Jim Williams and Bob Pease
Honoring Jim Williams
ACE Awards Contributor of the Year: Jim Williams