Dov Frohman
Encyclopedia
Dov Frohman is an Israeli electrical engineer
and business executive
. A former vice president of Intel Corporation
, he is the inventor of the erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM
) and the founder and first general manager of Intel Israel, Intel’s extensive operations in Israel
. He is also the author (with Robert Howard) of Leadership the Hard Way (Jossey-Bass, 2008).
, five months before the start of World War II
. His parents were Abraham and Feijga Frohman, Polish Jews who had emigrated to the Netherlands
in the early 1930s to escape rising anti-Semitism in Poland
. In 1942, after the German invasion of the Low Countries and as the Nazi grip on Holland’s Jewish community tightened, his parents decided to give their child to acquaintances in the Dutch resistance
who placed him with the Van Tilborghs, an orthodox Christian farming family that lived in the village of Sprang Capelle
in the region of Noord-Brabant
near the Belgian border. The Van Tilborghs hid Frohman for the duration of the war. His parents died in the Holocaust
.
Located by relatives in Palestine after the war, Frohman spent a few years in orphanages for Jewish children whose parents had died in the war, before emigrating to Israel in 1949 after the founding of the Jewish state. Adopted by relatives, he grew up in Tel Aviv
, served in the Israeli army, and in 1959, enrolled at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
to study electrical engineering.
. After receiving his masters in 1965, he took a job in the R&D labs of Fairchild Semiconductor
, a breeding ground of many early Silicon Valley
firms. In 1969, after completing his Ph.D., he followed former Fairchild managers Gordon Moore
, Robert Noyce
, and Andrew Grove
to Intel Corporation, which they had founded the previous year.
It was while troubleshooting a fault in an early Intel product that Frohman in 1970 developed the concept for the EPROM, the first semiconductor memory that was both erasable and easily reprogrammable. At the time, there were essentially two types of semiconductor memories. Random-access memory (RAM) chips were easy to program, but a chip would lose its charge (and therefore, the information encoded on the chip) when its power source was turned off. In industry parlance, RAM chips were volatile. Read-only memory
(ROM) chips, by contrast, were nonvolatile—that is, the information encoded in the chip was fixed and unchangeable. But the process for programming ROM memories was time-consuming and cumbersome. Typically, the data had to be “burned in” at the factory: physically embedded on the chip through a process called “masking” that generally took weeks to complete. And once programmed, the data in the ROM chip could not be altered.
The EPROM combined the best of both worlds. Like ROM, it was nonvolatile. But, like RAM, it was easily reprogammable. It was the catalyst for a whole line of innovation and development that eventually led to today’s ubiquitous flash memory
technology. The EPROM was also a key innovation in what became the personal computer industry, one that Intel founder Gordon Moore has termed “as important in the development of the microcomputer industry as the microprocessor
itself.” It remained Intel’s most profitable product well into the 1980s.
, Ghana
. He returned to Intel in 1973, but his long-term vision was to return to Israel to create a center of high-tech research there.http://news.com.com/A+culture+of+survival+drives+growth+-+page+2/2009-1008_3-6102135-2.html?tag=st.next So in 1974, he went back to Israel where he helped Intel establish a small chip design center in Haifa
—Intel’s first outside the United States. On his return to Israel, Frohman taught at the School of Applied Sciences at Hebrew University
(which he eventually came to direct) and consulted to Intel on the side. But in 1985, after having negotiated for Intel with the Israeli government to establish a semiconductor fabrication plant in Jerusalem, Intel’s first outside the United States, he left Hebrew University to become general manager of Intel Israel.
Over the next fifteen years, Frohman worked to establish Intel Israel as an important global center of excellence for Intel Corporation. In 1991, during the First Gulf War
, when Saddam Hussein’s
Iraq
attacked Israel with Scud
missiles, Frohman kept Intel Israel open—despite recommendations from the Israel Civil Defense authority that all non-essential businesses close down. As a result, Intel Israel was one of the few businesses—and the only manufacturing business—in the country to remain open throughout the entire war. (Frohman has described his experience during the war in an article in the Harvard Business Review
.) In 1995, he led Intel’s efforts to establish a second semiconductor fab in Israel, in the town of Qiryat Gat in the south of Israel on the edge of the Negev Desert
.
Today, Intel Israel is the headquarters for the corporation’s global R&D for wireless technology (it developed the company’s Centrino
mobile computing technology, which powers millions of laptops worldwide) and is responsible for designing the company’s most advanced microprocessor products. It is also a major center for chip fabrication. In 2008, the company opened a second semiconductor fab in Qiryat Gat, one of the most advanced facilities in the world. A $3.5 billion investment, the project was the largest construction project in the history of the state of Israel. With some seven thousand employees (projected to reach nearly ten thousand by the end of 2008), Intel Israel is the country’s largest private employer. In 2007, Intel Israel’s exports totaled $1.4 billion and represented roughly 8.5 percent of the total exports of Israel’s electronics and information industry (which themselves equaled about a quarter of Israel’s total industrial exports—the highest percentage for high tech anywhere in the world).
He is also a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
.
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
and business executive
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
. A former vice president of Intel Corporation
Intel Corporation
Intel Corporation is an American multinational semiconductor chip maker corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California, United States and the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most...
, he is the inventor of the erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM
EPROM
An EPROM , or erasable programmable read only memory, is a type of memory chip that retains its data when its power supply is switched off. In other words, it is non-volatile. It is an array of floating-gate transistors individually programmed by an electronic device that supplies higher voltages...
) and the founder and first general manager of Intel Israel, Intel’s extensive operations in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. He is also the author (with Robert Howard) of Leadership the Hard Way (Jossey-Bass, 2008).
Wartime Childhood
Frohman was born in March 1939 in AmsterdamAmsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, five months before the start of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. His parents were Abraham and Feijga Frohman, Polish Jews who had emigrated to the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
in the early 1930s to escape rising anti-Semitism in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. In 1942, after the German invasion of the Low Countries and as the Nazi grip on Holland’s Jewish community tightened, his parents decided to give their child to acquaintances in the Dutch resistance
Dutch resistance
Dutch resistance to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II can be mainly characterized by its prominent non-violence, summitting in over 300,000 people in hiding in the autumn of 1944, tended to by some 60,000 to 200,000 illegal landlords and caretakers and tolerated knowingly...
who placed him with the Van Tilborghs, an orthodox Christian farming family that lived in the village of Sprang Capelle
Sprang-Capelle
Sprang-Capelle is a former municipality in the North Brabant province of the Netherlands. It was formed in 1923 as a merger of the municipalities of Sprang, Vrijhoeve-Capelle and 's Grevelduin-Capelle. Therefore Sprang-Capelle consists of three villages: 's Grevelduin-Capelle, Vrijhoeve-Capelle and...
in the region of Noord-Brabant
North Brabant
North Brabant , sometimes called Brabant, is a province of the Netherlands, located in the south of the country, bordered by Belgium in the south, the Meuse River in the north, Limburg in the east and Zeeland in the west.- History :...
near the Belgian border. The Van Tilborghs hid Frohman for the duration of the war. His parents died in the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
.
Located by relatives in Palestine after the war, Frohman spent a few years in orphanages for Jewish children whose parents had died in the war, before emigrating to Israel in 1949 after the founding of the Jewish state. Adopted by relatives, he grew up in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, served in the Israeli army, and in 1959, enrolled at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is a research-intensive institute of technology in Haifa, Israel. Originally called the Technikum, it was founded in 1912...
to study electrical engineering.
Inventing the EPROM
After graduating from the Technion in 1963, Frohman traveled to the United States to study for his masters and Ph.D. at the University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. After receiving his masters in 1965, he took a job in the R&D labs of Fairchild Semiconductor
Fairchild Semiconductor
Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. is an American semiconductor company based in San Jose, California. Founded in 1957, it was a pioneer in transistor and integrated circuit manufacturing...
, a breeding ground of many early Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
firms. In 1969, after completing his Ph.D., he followed former Fairchild managers Gordon Moore
Gordon Moore
Gordon Earle Moore is the co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of Intel Corporation and the author of Moore's Law .-Life and career:...
, Robert Noyce
Robert Noyce
Robert Norton Noyce , nicknamed "the Mayor of Silicon Valley", co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 and Intel in 1968...
, and Andrew Grove
Andrew Grove
Andrew Stephen Grove , is a Hungarian-born Jewish-American Businessman/ Engineer, Author & a science pioneer in the semiconductor industry. He escaped from Communist-controlled Hungary at the age of 20 and moved to the U.S., where he finished his education...
to Intel Corporation, which they had founded the previous year.
It was while troubleshooting a fault in an early Intel product that Frohman in 1970 developed the concept for the EPROM, the first semiconductor memory that was both erasable and easily reprogrammable. At the time, there were essentially two types of semiconductor memories. Random-access memory (RAM) chips were easy to program, but a chip would lose its charge (and therefore, the information encoded on the chip) when its power source was turned off. In industry parlance, RAM chips were volatile. Read-only memory
Read-only memory
Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...
(ROM) chips, by contrast, were nonvolatile—that is, the information encoded in the chip was fixed and unchangeable. But the process for programming ROM memories was time-consuming and cumbersome. Typically, the data had to be “burned in” at the factory: physically embedded on the chip through a process called “masking” that generally took weeks to complete. And once programmed, the data in the ROM chip could not be altered.
The EPROM combined the best of both worlds. Like ROM, it was nonvolatile. But, like RAM, it was easily reprogammable. It was the catalyst for a whole line of innovation and development that eventually led to today’s ubiquitous flash memory
Flash memory
Flash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
technology. The EPROM was also a key innovation in what became the personal computer industry, one that Intel founder Gordon Moore has termed “as important in the development of the microcomputer industry as the microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
itself.” It remained Intel’s most profitable product well into the 1980s.
Creating Intel Israel
After inventing the EPROM, Frohman left Intel to teach electrical engineering at the University of Science and Technology in KumasiKumasi
Kumasi is a city in southern central Ghana's Ashanti region. It is located near Lake Bosomtwe, in the Rain Forest Region about northwest of Accra. Kumasi is approximately north of the Equator and north of the Gulf of Guinea...
, Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
. He returned to Intel in 1973, but his long-term vision was to return to Israel to create a center of high-tech research there.http://news.com.com/A+culture+of+survival+drives+growth+-+page+2/2009-1008_3-6102135-2.html?tag=st.next So in 1974, he went back to Israel where he helped Intel establish a small chip design center in Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
—Intel’s first outside the United States. On his return to Israel, Frohman taught at the School of Applied Sciences at Hebrew University
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
(which he eventually came to direct) and consulted to Intel on the side. But in 1985, after having negotiated for Intel with the Israeli government to establish a semiconductor fabrication plant in Jerusalem, Intel’s first outside the United States, he left Hebrew University to become general manager of Intel Israel.
Over the next fifteen years, Frohman worked to establish Intel Israel as an important global center of excellence for Intel Corporation. In 1991, during the First Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
, when Saddam Hussein’s
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
attacked Israel with Scud
Scud
Scud is a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and exported widely to other countries. The term comes from the NATO reporting name SS-1 Scud which was attached to the missile by Western intelligence agencies...
missiles, Frohman kept Intel Israel open—despite recommendations from the Israel Civil Defense authority that all non-essential businesses close down. As a result, Intel Israel was one of the few businesses—and the only manufacturing business—in the country to remain open throughout the entire war. (Frohman has described his experience during the war in an article in the Harvard Business Review
Harvard Business Review
Harvard Business Review is a general management magazine published since 1922 by Harvard Business School Publishing, owned by the Harvard Business School. A monthly research-based magazine written for business practitioners, it claims a high ranking business readership among academics, executives,...
.) In 1995, he led Intel’s efforts to establish a second semiconductor fab in Israel, in the town of Qiryat Gat in the south of Israel on the edge of the Negev Desert
Negev
The Negev is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The Arabs, including the native Bedouin population of the region, refer to the desert as al-Naqab. The origin of the word Neghebh is from the Hebrew root denoting 'dry'...
.
Today, Intel Israel is the headquarters for the corporation’s global R&D for wireless technology (it developed the company’s Centrino
Centrino
The Centrino brand represents Intel Wi-Fi and WiMAX adapters. It was formerly a platform-marketing initiative from Intel until January 7, 2010....
mobile computing technology, which powers millions of laptops worldwide) and is responsible for designing the company’s most advanced microprocessor products. It is also a major center for chip fabrication. In 2008, the company opened a second semiconductor fab in Qiryat Gat, one of the most advanced facilities in the world. A $3.5 billion investment, the project was the largest construction project in the history of the state of Israel. With some seven thousand employees (projected to reach nearly ten thousand by the end of 2008), Intel Israel is the country’s largest private employer. In 2007, Intel Israel’s exports totaled $1.4 billion and represented roughly 8.5 percent of the total exports of Israel’s electronics and information industry (which themselves equaled about a quarter of Israel’s total industrial exports—the highest percentage for high tech anywhere in the world).
Later life
Frohman retired from Intel in 2001. Today, he divides his time between his home in Jerusalem and his vacation home in the Dolomite mountains of Italy. Among his many current projects is a plan to create a Center for Alternative Thinking, at a site near Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev Desert.Awards and honours
Frohman has received numerous awards honoring his scientific, technical, and business achievements.- In 1986, he was the recipient of the IEEEInstitute of Electrical and Electronics EngineersThe Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a non-profit professional association headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence...
Jack Morton Award for meritorious achievement in the field of solid state devices. - In 1991, he was awarded the Israel PrizeIsrael PrizeThe Israel Prize is an award handed out by the State of Israel and is largely regarded as the state's highest honor. It is presented annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state ceremony in Jerusalem, in the presence of the President, the Prime Minister, the Knesset chairperson, and the...
for exact sciences. - In 2008, he received the IEEE’s Edison Medal, honoring a career of meritorious achievement in electrical engineering.
- In 2009, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of FameNational Inventors Hall of FameThe National Inventors Hall of Fame is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recognizing, honoring and encouraging invention and creativity through the administration of its programs. The Hall of Fame honors the men and women responsible for the great technological advances that make human,...
.
He is also a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, based in Jerusalem, was set up in 1961 by the State of Israel to foster contact between scholars from the sciences and humanities in Israel, to advise the government on research projects of national importance, and to promote excellence. It comprises...
.
See also
- List of Israel Prize recipients