I posted this video back in 2015, but it is so good that it is worth watching again. This is especially true now that I have the second edition of The Art of Electronics in hand, and in light of the fact that we recently had our own experiences trying to teach analog electronics to students.
Paul Horowitz is a real inspiration. He is still W1HFA, and QRZ.com has him living in Cambridge, Mass. So many great tech collaborations came out of that fair city: Car Talk and KLH, just to name two. And of course, Horowitz and Hill.
It was wonderful to hear Paul describe the origins and the evolution of The Art of Electronics. His description of the Electronics 123 course at Harvard was really inspiring. They were wise to limit the participation to 10 students (it seems that they eventually went to 2 sections of 10 students each). I think Dean KK4DAS and I came to the conclusion that it is better to have a small group of truly interested students than to have a large group of marginally interested students. (At the high school, we started with 70. That was far too many.) And it may be better to teach this stuff at the college level (high schoolers may be a bit too young). I want to get the third edition, and the book Learning the Art of Electronics.
Paul showed pictures of the class (near the end of the video). Classroom seating was seminar-like, with no pompous professor at a podium. The labs showed Rigol digital 'scopes in use.
And wow, the watch that Paul gave to Lady Ada is very cool.
It is all quite inspirational. Three cheers for Horowitz and Hill, and for Lady Ada.
More on "The Art of Electronics" to come.
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