The IEEE has conferred to
CERN in Geneva,
Switzerland the honour of an IEEE Milestone in the history of
electricity for the invention in 1968 of the multi-wire
proportional particle detector.
This invention by George Charpak and collaborators at CERN has been the turning point for the progressive
transformation of physics experiments into fully electronic operation.
This change has been accompanied by the
introduction of a wide range of electronic signal
processors in modular units, involving
development efforts in laboratories and
innovative industries worlwide. The earliest
standards in data acquisition bus protocols, such as CAMAC contributed
to the success. Today this culminates in experiments with millions of
electronics chips, that use sophisticated microelectronics, fiber optics
networking and computing. The industrial partners continuously play a
critical role in the transfer of these new
technologies towards other industrial
applications.
The IEEE established the
Electrical Engineering Milestones program in 1983 to honor
significant achievements in the history of electrical and
electronics engineering. To be designated an achievement must be
at least 25 years old, must have involved a unique solution to
an engineering problem, and must have had at least regional
impact. Currently there are more than
50 IEEE Milestones around the world. |