Some time ago, Barrie Gilbert, for whom the "Gilbert cell" is named,
gave a talk at a local ham club. He began by showing a copy of the
patent for the "Gilbert cell", and emphatically pointed out that his
name isn't on it. As he explained, he didn't invent the circuit nor did
he have anything to do with its invention. At the time it was patented,
he was an application engineer, and he wrote a lengthy article in one of
the trade magazines about the circuit and its applications (and giving
proper credit to the inventor). Shortly after that, through no action of
his own, someone dubbed it the "Gilbert cell". The name stuck, and
Barrie has spent the time since trying to straighten out the record --
without success. As far as I know, he gives the explanation every time
he presents a talk. Ironically, I don't remember the name of the actual
inventor of this very useful circuit -- it's in my notes from that talk,
buried somewhere.

Barrie is an engineer at Analog Devices, and the chief designer of many
of their advanced analog products. He's an exceptionally talented
engineer, a real gentleman, and a humble and honest person. But NOT the
inventor of the "Gilbert cell" -- as he's the first one to point out.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Michael Black wrote:

But the "Gilbert Cell" mixer also got by for a good long time without
the fancy name.

Nobody used the term in the early seventies when the MC1496 came along.
It was just a double balanced mixer. It was the late eighties when I
started hearing the term, in reference to the NE602, though suddenly
decades of the same circuit was suddenly a Gilbert Cell.

I know I mentioned this at one time in one of the newsgroups, and
there was an explanation, but I can't remember what it was.

Michael VE2BVW

Roy Lewallen ) writes:
Some time ago, Barrie Gilbert, for whom the "Gilbert cell" is named,
gave a talk at a local ham club. He began by showing a copy of the
patent for the "Gilbert cell", and emphatically pointed out that his
name isn't on it. As he explained, he didn't invent the circuit nor did
he have anything to do with its invention. At the time it was patented,
he was an application engineer, and he wrote a lengthy article in one of
the trade magazines about the circuit and its applications (and giving
proper credit to the inventor). Shortly after that, through no action of
his own, someone dubbed it the "Gilbert cell". The name stuck, and
Barrie has spent the time since trying to straighten out the record --
without success. As far as I know, he gives the explanation every time
he presents a talk. Ironically, I don't remember the name of the actual
inventor of this very useful circuit -- it's in my notes from that talk,
buried somewhere.

Barrie is an engineer at Analog Devices, and the chief designer of many
of their advanced analog products. He's an exceptionally talented
engineer, a real gentleman, and a humble and honest person. But NOT the
inventor of the "Gilbert cell" -- as he's the first one to point out.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

That sounds almost exactly the way I read it before, so you may have
been the one who responded the last time.

Michael VE2BVW

Michael Black wrote:

But the "Gilbert Cell" mixer also got by for a good long time without
the fancy name.

Nobody used the term in the early seventies when the MC1496 came along.
It was just a double balanced mixer. It was the late eighties when I
started hearing the term, in reference to the NE602, though suddenly
decades of the same circuit was suddenly a Gilbert Cell.

I know I mentioned this at one time in one of the newsgroups, and
there was an explanation, but I can't remember what it was.

Michael VE2BVW

In article ,
Roy Lewallen wrote:

Some time ago, Barrie Gilbert, for whom the "Gilbert cell" is named,
gave a talk at a local ham club. He began by showing a copy of the
patent for the "Gilbert cell", and emphatically pointed out that his
name isn't on it. As he explained, he didn't invent the circuit nor did
he have anything to do with its invention. At the time it was patented,
he was an application engineer, and he wrote a lengthy article in one of
the trade magazines about the circuit and its applications (and giving
proper credit to the inventor). Shortly after that, through no action of
his own, someone dubbed it the "Gilbert cell". The name stuck, and
Barrie has spent the time since trying to straighten out the record --
without success. As far as I know, he gives the explanation every time
he presents a talk.

#chuckle#

Harry Stubbs (who wrote quite a few SF novels using his middle name -
Hal Clement) has had a similar problem. In his 1950s (I think) novel
"Needle", he mistakenly thought that an organism which was taking part
in a symbiotic relationship was a "symbiote", and he spelled it that
way - the correct Greek word is "symbiont".

The incorrect word was picked up by the SF community, spread, and has
gained common use. He formally retracted the incorrect word when he
published the sequel "Through the Eye of a Needle", but his comments
make it clear he doesn't think there's a chance in hell that his
neologism will be replaced in popular use by the correct term.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

Roy Lewallen ) writes:
Some time ago, Barrie Gilbert, for whom the "Gilbert cell" is named,
gave a talk at a local ham club. He began by showing a copy of the
patent for the "Gilbert cell", and emphatically pointed out that his
name isn't on it. As he explained, he didn't invent the circuit nor did
he have anything to do with its invention. At the time it was patented,
he was an application engineer, and he wrote a lengthy article in one of
the trade magazines about the circuit and its applications (and giving
proper credit to the inventor). Shortly after that, through no action of
his own, someone dubbed it the "Gilbert cell". The name stuck, and
Barrie has spent the time since trying to straighten out the record --
without success. As far as I know, he gives the explanation every time
he presents a talk. Ironically, I don't remember the name of the actual
inventor of this very useful circuit -- it's in my notes from that talk,
buried somewhere.

Barrie is an engineer at Analog Devices, and the chief designer of many
of their advanced analog products. He's an exceptionally talented
engineer, a real gentleman, and a humble and honest person. But NOT the
inventor of the "Gilbert cell" -- as he's the first one to point out.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

That sounds almost exactly the way I read it before, so you may have
been the one who responded the last time.

Michael VE2BVW

Michael Black wrote:

But the "Gilbert Cell" mixer also got by for a good long time without
the fancy name.

Nobody used the term in the early seventies when the MC1496 came along.
It was just a double balanced mixer. It was the late eighties when I
started hearing the term, in reference to the NE602, though suddenly
decades of the same circuit was suddenly a Gilbert Cell.

I know I mentioned this at one time in one of the newsgroups, and
there was an explanation, but I can't remember what it was.

Michael VE2BVW

In article ,
Roy Lewallen wrote:

Some time ago, Barrie Gilbert, for whom the "Gilbert cell" is named,
gave a talk at a local ham club. He began by showing a copy of the
patent for the "Gilbert cell", and emphatically pointed out that his
name isn't on it. As he explained, he didn't invent the circuit nor did
he have anything to do with its invention. At the time it was patented,
he was an application engineer, and he wrote a lengthy article in one of
the trade magazines about the circuit and its applications (and giving
proper credit to the inventor). Shortly after that, through no action of
his own, someone dubbed it the "Gilbert cell". The name stuck, and
Barrie has spent the time since trying to straighten out the record --
without success. As far as I know, he gives the explanation every time
he presents a talk.

#chuckle#

Harry Stubbs (who wrote quite a few SF novels using his middle name -
Hal Clement) has had a similar problem. In his 1950s (I think) novel
"Needle", he mistakenly thought that an organism which was taking part
in a symbiotic relationship was a "symbiote", and he spelled it that
way - the correct Greek word is "symbiont".

The incorrect word was picked up by the SF community, spread, and has
gained common use. He formally retracted the incorrect word when he
published the sequel "Through the Eye of a Needle", but his comments
make it clear he doesn't think there's a chance in hell that his
neologism will be replaced in popular use by the correct term.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!