Professor Emeritus Jean-Daniel Nicoud of EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, turned 85, 10 years older than the transistor.
Jean-Daniel Nicoud on his 85th birthday with Hugo Wyss, Swiss LMAG chair
Swiss LMAG chair Hugo Wyss presented him with 10 early Germanium transistors manufactured before 1965 at a production pilot line at Ebauches SA, then the world’s largest watch movement manufacturer. Nicoud had jumped into the emerging field of transistor logic systems in 1966 on his way to his Ph.D. at EPFL. Working with schoolmate Rene Sommer, they developed the computer mouse in their labs, which was picked up in 1982 by Logitech. He would develop a full range of microcomputers under the Swiss SMAKY brand during the 1980s.
> Read Jean-Daniel Nicoud’s interview with the Engineering and Technology History Wiki
