Hans Camenzind, 555 timer inventor, dies

[KH6DC]

My condolences to his family. That was my first exposure to IC chip back in high school electronics in the 1980s - the 555 timer and 741 op amp.

[VA3CSS]

Sad news indeed. My condolences to his friends and family, and my thanks to Hans for his contributions to electronics.

We're all non-retriggerable monostable devices. RIP Hans.

Unless you believe Shirley McLean's version of things, where you die as a timer and come back as an op-amp.

[K3OWZ]

Hard to believe the 555 has been around so long. I still have (somewhere) a pre-release spec sheet from Signetics - hand written in part, from circa 1971. Built many a project around 555s.
RIP

John - K3OWZ

[W0BTU]

... the most famous thing ever done with 25 transistors, 2 diodes and 15 resistors ...

Man, you said it! That's for sure. How many other solid state devices invented back then are still in wide use? Not very many!

I see from reading that article that he invented other things, like the PLL and the class D amplifier. What an amazing guy.

What I found particularly interesting was that he invented the 555 when working with Signetics. Last place I worked before I went self-employed, I helped develop a product that used three 555s. We found that the performance of Signetics 555s was very unpredictable in that circuit, and the main note to the vendors was that under no circumstances were Signetics 555s to be used in that circuit. Have no idea why.

Anybody know the difference between a 555N and a 555P? Both types would work in that circuit, but one type was more reliable than the other. I don't remember the details.

[ZL4AU]

Yes, sad to see great people passing on. They've done good for the world, and my condolences
also go out to remaining families
Regards
Roly/Zl4au

[AA3EE]

Anybody know the difference between a 555N and a 555P? Both types would work in that circuit, but one type was more reliable than the other. I don't remember the details.

Could be either temperature range or package material (ceramic vs plastic). It's also possible that the "better performing" units got the higher temperature range, whereas the not-so-good units got a room temp rating. Sort of like Intel did with processors a while back, if it was good it was a 386DX, not so good was a 386SX.

[WA5CYR]

I've built many timer circuits with the 555. I had a small repeater that ran on several which were used to time out the squelch, time in the IDer, etc. He really gave us a wonderful little device. I have an experimental book on the 555 circuits and have built many of them just for fun as well.
Thaks, Hans for giving us a wonderful unit to enjoy.
Dan - WA5CYR