Robert (Bob) Herman Cushman (16 January 1924 in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...

– 27 January 1996 in Essex, Connecticut) was an American trade magazine journalist who had written extensively across several engineering disciplines, two in particular during the vanguard of rapid technological advances and ensuing market boom of their respective technologies. In the late 1950s, at the beginning of the

Space Race The Space Race (, ) was a 20th-century competition between the Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between t ...

, Cushman had been an editor at ''

Aviation Week & Space Technology ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', often abbreviated ''Aviation Week'' or ''AW&ST'', is the flagship magazine of the Aviation Week Network, a division of Informa. The weekly magazine is available in print and online, reporting on the aeros ...

''.''Who's Who in Electronics'', 1961 From 1962 to the late-1980s, he was an editor for '' Electronic Design News''. He started out at EDN as the East Coast editor and soon rose to Special Features Editor covering microprocessing. Cushman was widely known within the microprocessing industry for his influential writings in '' Electronic Design News'' about microprocessors during its infancy in the early 1970s, through its period of rapid growth and development in the 1980s. His articles, collectively, chronicle the birth and early milestones of microprocessors and, at the time, helped bridge technical development with applications. Citations of his work are prevalent in documents produced by academicians, engineers, the military, and

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. At the time of Cushman's death, he and his wife were residents of

Old Lyme, Connecticut Old Lyme is a coastal town in New London County, Connecticut, United States, bounded on the west by the Connecticut River, on the south by the Long Island Sound, on the east by the town of East Lyme, and on the north by the town of Lyme. The town ...

. Before retiring, he and his wife had been a long-time residents of

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Early career

Cushman earned a high school diploma in 1942 from the

Professional Children's School The Professional Children's School (PCS) is a not-for-profit, college-preparatory school geared toward working and aspiring child actors and dancers in grades four through twelve. The school was founded in New York City in 1914 to provide an ac ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. After the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he entered the U.S. Navy as a Lt. J.G. Upon earning a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (; RPI) is a private university, private research university in Troy, New York, United States. It is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and the Western Hemisphere. It was establishe ...

, he served in China. After the war, Cushman, an avid sailor, spent two years as a yacht designer with Philip L. Rhodes, who later designed the Weatherly. In 1959, after serving as Associate Editor of ''Automatic Control'', Cushman accepted a position as Public Relations Director of Daystrom, Inc.,

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, which was acquired by

Schlumberger Schlumberger (), doing business as SLB, is a global multinational oilfield services company. Founded in France in 1926, the company is now incorporated as Schlumberger NV in Willemstad, Curaçao, with principal executive offices in Houston ...

in 1962, but continued to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary. Cushman had retired as Senior Editor at

Cahners Publishing RELX plc (pronounced "Rel-ex") is a British multinational information and analytics company headquartered in London, England. Its businesses provide scientific, technical and medical information and analytics; legal information and analytics; ...

, a longtime division of

Reed Elsevier RELX plc (pronounced "Rel-ex") is a British multinational information and analytics company headquartered in London, England. Its businesses provide scientific, technical and medical information and analytics; legal information and analytics; ...

and, at the time, parent of '' EDN''.

Growing up

Cushman had been a child actor. At the age of — from January 21, 1939, to June 1, 1939, and from July 17, 1939, to September 23, 1939 — Cushman had acted in the Broadway play, ''

The American Way The American way of life or the American way is the U.S. nationalist ethos that adheres to the principle of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. At the center of the American way is the belief in an American Dream that is claimed to be ac ...

'', in the role of Young Alex Hewitt at that RKO Roxy Theatre. The play ran for 244 performances.

Selected articles

; ''

'',

McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American education science company that provides educational content, software, and services for students and educators across various levels—from K-12 to higher education and professional settings. They produce textbooks, ...

— * "GE Bids for Helicopter Market With T58", Vol. 64, No. 23, June 4, 1956, pg. 60 * "Cornell Instruments For Shock Tubes", Vol. 65, No. 18, October 29, 1956, pg. 80 * " Rocket-Tube Ejector Adds To Escape Margin For Jet Pilots", Vol. 65, No. 20, November 12, 1956, pps. 71–77 * "Lewis Pushes Work on Rocket Engines", Vol. 66, No. 22, June 3, 1957, pps. 10–83 * "Air Problems Attacked in Mid-Manhattan", Vol. 67, No. 1, July 8, 1957 * " F-103 Demise Clouds Dual Cycle Future", Vol. 67, No. 10, September 9, 1957, pg. 101 * "GM Seeks 'Fluidity' in $60 Million Engine R&D Facility", Vol. 67, No. 14, October 7, 1957 * " Hypersonic Tunnels Yield Practical Data", Vol. 67, No. 16, October 21, 1957 * "Scientist Study

Mach The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physi ...

Ramjet A ramjet is a form of airbreathing jet engine that requires forward motion of the engine to provide air for combustion. Ramjets work most efficiently at supersonic speeds around and can operate up to . Ramjets can be particularly appropriat ...

Theory", Vol. 68, No. 1, January 6, 1958, pps. 57–59 & 63

; ''Automatic Control'', Reinhold Publishing Company — * "Vanguard Control Demonstrates Minimum Hardware Approach", Vol. 9, No. 1, July 1958, pps. 16–20 * "Are Adaptive Servos Here?" 1959 * "Biophysical Feedback For Space Systems", Vol. 10, No. 6, June 1959, pps. 14–24

; American Society for Metals * "Casting Techniques Developed For The Electronic Industry", 1966

; 16th Annual Wire & Cable Symposium,

Atlantic City Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...

* "

Die Cast Die casting is a metal casting process that is characterized by forcing molten metal under high pressure into a mold cavity. The mold cavity is created using two hardened tool steel dies which have been machined into shape and work similarly to ...

and Mechanical Thermal Pulse Termination Techniques", November 29, 1967

; ''Symposium Record'' — & ''Advances in Electronic Circuit Packaging'' — : International Electronic Circuit Packaging Symposium (IECPS), Western Electronic Show and Convention (WesCon) : Sponsored by the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE has a corporate office ...

& the Western Electronic Manufacturers Association * "Mechanical Thermal Pulse Metal Joining", 7th IECPS at

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

, August 22–23, 1966, pps. 4–12 * "Mechanical Thermal Pulse Multiple Bonding Techniques", 9th IECPS, August 19–20, 1968

; '' The Engineer'' (published by

Western Electric Company Western Electric Co., Inc. was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company that operated from 1869 to 1996. A subsidiary of the AT&T Corporation for most of its lifespan, Western Electric was the primary manufacturer, supplier, ...

) * "Fluxless Metal Joining", Vol. 10, January 1967

; ''

Bell System Technical Journal The ''Bell Labs Technical Journal'' was the in-house scientific journal for scientists of Bell Labs, published yearly by the IEEE society. The journal was originally established as ''The Bell System Technical Journal'' (BSTJ) in New York by the Am ...

'' — * " Lead-Acid Battery Techniques for Bonding the Positive Plates", Vol. 49, No. 7, September 1, 1970, pps. 1419–1446

; '' EDN'' (formerly ''Electronic Design News'') — * "Printed-Circuit Packaging: Can It Be Carried Further?" Vol. 10, No. 9, April 26, 1962, pps. 38–51 * "Hybrid Computation Gets Analog Out of Rut", Vol. 10, No. 21, October 11, 1962, pps. 55–69 * "Heat and Pressure — A Way to Better Bonds, Part I:" January 1967; "Part II" February 1967 * "

Hall Effect The Hall effect is the production of a voltage, potential difference (the Hall voltage) across an electrical conductor that is wikt:transverse, transverse to an electric current in the conductor and to an applied magnetic field wikt:perpendicul ...

Put in IC", November 11, 1968, pg. 87 * "

Schottky diode The Schottky diode (named after the German physicist Walter H. Schottky), also known as Schottky barrier diode or hot-carrier diode, is a semiconductor diode formed by the junction of a semiconductor with a metal. It has a low forward voltag ...

s Speed Up Digital IC's", January 1, 1969, pps. 37–40 * "Transistor Responds to Magnetic Fields", February 15, 1969, pps. 73–78 * "Real-Time, Two-Way Communications Between Citizens and Leaders", June 1, 1969, pps. 28, 112, and 113 * "GHz

Amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It is a two-port electronic circuit that uses electric power from a power su ...

s, Now They Are Practical", Vol. 15, No. 2, September 1970, pg. 41 * "

Spinel Spinel () is the magnesium/aluminium member of the larger spinel group of minerals. It has the formula in the cubic crystal system. Its name comes from the Latin word , a diminutive form of ''spine,'' in reference to its pointed crystals. Prop ...

May Make MOS Faster Than T²L", January 15, 1971, pg. 35 * "

Digital Cassettes Digital audio cassette formats introduced to the professional audio and consumer markets: *Digital Audio Tape (or DAT) is the most well-known, and had some success as an audio storage format among professionals and "prosumers" before the prices o ...

— Growing Like Wonderful Weeds", Vol. 17, February 1972, pps. 28–35 ; March 1971 — ''EDN'' renamed ''EDN/EEE'' * "Digital Cartridges — New steps in Right Direction", April 1972, pps. 26–29 * "CMSO Finally Gets It All Together", June 15, 1972 * "Using

Computer Aided Design Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

to Talk to Machines in the Factory", August 15, 1972, pps. 28–32 * "Leapfrog Ahead With Standard-Family MSI/LSI", Vol. 18, No. 7, April 5, 1973, pps. 30–38 * "Designers Guide to Optical Couplers", Vol. 18, No. 14, July 20, 1973 * "Microprocessors Are Changing Your Future — Are You Prepared?" Vol. 18, No. 21, November 5, 1973, pps. 26–32. * "Understanding the Microprocessor is no Trivial Task", Vol. 18, No. 22, November 20, 1973, pps. 42–49 * "Understand the 8-Bit μP: You'll See a Lot of It", Vol. 19, No. 2, January 20, 1974 * "Don't Overlook the

4-Bit 4-bit computing is the use of computer architectures in which integer (computer science), integers and other data (computer science), data units are 4 bits wide. 4-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) architectures a ...

μP: They're Here and They're Cheap", Vol. 19, No. 4, February 20, 1974, pps. 44–50 * "What Can You Do with a Microprocessor?" Vol. 19, No. 6, March 20, 1974, pps. 42–47 * "The

Intel 8080 The Intel 8080 is Intel's second 8-bit computing, 8-bit microprocessor. Introduced in April 1974, the 8080 was an enhanced successor to the earlier Intel 8008 microprocessor, although without binary compatibility.'' Electronic News'' was a week ...

: The First of the Second-Generation Microprocessors", Vol. 19, No. 9, May 5, 1974, pps. 30–36 * "Microprocessor Design Series": Four reprints from '' EDN magazine'', Vols. 18 & 19, published by ''

Design News Design News is a business-to-business media brand covering news, trends, and technology insights for the engineering community. Owned by Informa Markets — Engineering, it is headquartered in Santa Monica, California. The brand has been in p ...

'', July 22, 1974 * " tp://download.intel.com/intel/legal/counsel/thrdprty/1974_9_20_Here.pdf How to Get Acquainted With a μP", Vol. 19, No. 18, September 20, 1974, pps. 46–52* "A Very Complete Chip Set Joins the Great Microprocessor Race —

Motorola 6800 The 6800 ("''sixty-eight hundred''") is an 8-bit microprocessor designed and first manufactured by Motorola in 1974. The MC6800 microprocessor was part of the M6800 Microcomputer System (later dubbed ''68xx'') that also included serial and parall ...

", Vol. 19, No. 22, November 20, 1974, pg. 87 * "Newest μP's Split Into Divergent Paths", Vol. 19, No. 24, December 20, 1974, pps. 31–34 * "Microprocessor Instruction Sets: The Vocabulary of Programming", Vol. 20, No. 6, March 20, 1975, pps. 35–41 * "Exposing the Black Art of Microprocessor Benchmarking", Vol. 20, No. 8, April 20, 1975, pps. 41–46 * "Microprocessor Benchmarks: How Well Does the μP Move Data?" Vol. 20, No. 10, May 20, 1975, pps. 43–48 * "Beware Of The Errors That Can Creep Into μP Benchmark Programs", Vol. 20, No. 12, June 20, 1975, pps. 105–10 *
2-1/2 Generation μPs — $10 Parts That Perform Like Low-End Mini's"
Vol. 20, No. 17, September 20, 1975, pps. 36–41 * "Getting Started With Microprocessors on a Shoestring Budget", Vol. 20, No. 19, October 20, 1975, pg. 64 * "How Development Systems Can Speed Up μP Design Process", Vol. 21, No. 8, April 20, 1976. pps. 63–72 * "Bare-bones Development Systems Make Good Learning Tools", Vol. 22, No. 6, March 20, 1977 * "Use Forthcoming One-Chip μC's to Achieve Lower Costs Gracefully", Vol. 23, January 20, 1978 * "Are Single-Chip Microcomputers the Universal Logic of the 1980s?" Vol. 24, January 5, 1979, pps. 83–89 * "The Promise of Analog Microprocessors: Low Cost Digital Signal Handling", Vol. 25, January 5, 1980, pps. 127–132 * "To Get to Know Analog μPs, Simulate Simple Examples", Vol. 25, February 5, 1980, pps. 137–146 * "One-chip μCs, High Level Languages Combine For Fast Prototyping", Vol. 25, No. 14, August 5, 1980, pps. 89–96 * "Digital Simulation Techniques Improve μP-System Design", Vol. 26, No. 1, January 7, 1981, pps. 142–149 * "Digital Processing Tools Present Design Challenges", May 13, 1981, pps. 103–109 * " Signal-Processing Design Awaits Digital Takeover", Vol. 26, No. 13, June 24, 1981, pps. 119–128 * "Digitization Is On The Way For FFT Designs", Vol. 26, No. 15, August 5, 1981, pps. 99–106 * "Add the FFT to Your Box of Design Tools", Vol. 26, No. 18, September 16, 1981, pps. 83–88 * "As μP/ μC Chips Mature, Support Chips Proliferate", Vol. 27, No. 1, January 6, 1982, pps. 155–202 * "New-Generation CRT-Controller ICs Cut Display Costs, Increase Capabilities", Vol. 27, No. 10, May 12, 1982, pps. 39–46 * "Digital Signal-Processing ICs...", Vol. 27, No. 14, July 16, 1982 *
EDN Product Showcase: ICs and Semiconductors
, Vol. 27, No. 14, July 16, 1982 * " Byte-Wide-Memory Standard Gains Adherents as Designers Discover Its Advantages", Vol. 27, No. 15, August 4, 1982, pps. 53–58 * "

CMOS Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS, pronounced "sea-moss ", , ) is a type of MOSFET, metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) semiconductor device fabrication, fabrication process that uses complementary an ...

Microprocessor and Microcomputer ICs", Vol. 27, No. 19, September 29, 1982, pps. 88–100 * " TTL Enhancements and Extensions", November 24, 1982, pps. 95–102 * "Hands-On Investigations Help Exploit

Designs", Vol. 28, No. 8, April 14, 1983, pg. 13 (7-1/2 pages) * "

Digital Signal Processing Digital signal processing (DSP) is the use of digital processing, such as by computers or more specialized digital signal processors, to perform a wide variety of signal processing operations. The digital signals processed in this manner are a ...

Advances Slowly, But Steadily", Vol. 28, No. 14, July 7, 1983, pg. 60–72 * "Hands-On Network-Design Project Gives Insight Into LAN Features", Vol. 29, No. 6, March 22, 1984, pps. 219–232 * " VLSI-Based LAN-Controller Chip Eases μP-to-Network Interface", Vol. 29, No. 9, May 4, 1984, pps. 207–220 * "Enhanced μPs Bring New Life to Old Devices", January 1985, pps. 124–138 * "Microprocessor Support Chips Present a Wide Array of Choices", Vol. 30, No. 25, March 7, 1985 * "Third Generation DSPs Put Advance Functions on Chip", Vol. 30, No. 16, July 11, 1985, pps. 59–68 * "Keep

Breadboard A breadboard, solderless breadboard, or protoboard is a construction base used to build semi-permanent prototypes of electronic circuits. Unlike a perfboard or stripboard, breadboards do not require soldering or destruction of tracks and are h ...

Simple in Hands-On DSP Projects", September 5, 1985, pg. 225 (10 pages) * "Support Chips Mature to Upstage the Host Microprocessor", Vol. 31, No. 6, March 20, 1986, pps. 116–167 * "μP-Like DSP Chips", Vol. 32, No. 18, September 3, 1987, pps. 155–186 * "New Software Tools Run IBM PC Software on a Variety of 32-Bit μPs", February 18, 1988, pps. 93, 95–97, 100

; ''EDN''s Annual Chip Directories * ''Fourth Annual Microprocessor Directory'', Vol. 22, No. 21, November 20, 1977, pps. 44–83 * ''EDN's Seventh Annual μP/ μC Chip Directory'', Vol. 26, No. 20, November 5, 1980 * ''EDN's Eighth Annual μP/ μC Chip Directory'', November 11, 1981, pg. 100 * ''EDN's Tenth Annual μP/ μC Chip Directory'', Vol. 28, No. 22, November 10, 1983, pps. 111–256 * ''EDN's Eleventh Annual μP/ μC Chip Directory'', Vol. 29, No. 23, November 15, 1984 * ''EDN's 14th Annual μP/ μC Chip Directory'', Vol. 32, No. 24, November 26, 1987, pps. 100–187

Professional affiliations and hobbies

* Member,

International Society of Automation The International Society of Automation (ISA) Is a non-profit technical society for engineers, technicians, businesspeople, educators and students, who work, study or are interested in automation and pursuits related to it, such as instrumentatio ...

, since the late 1950s * Cushman filed several patents and copyrights ; Selected stage plays & screenplays * ''Judson Mansions'' or ''The Barbarians'', A melodrama in three acts, 30 March 1950 * ''The Scientific Approach to Getting Married in a Hurry'', a filmplay by Robert Herman Cushman, 7 November 1963

Ancestry and family

; Notable ancestry Cushman, by way of his father, Clifford Howell Cushman (1891–1974), was a tenth-generation

lineal descendant A lineal or direct descendant, in legal usage, is a blood relative in a person's direct line of descent – the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. In a legal procedure sense, lineal descent refers to the acquisition of estate ...

of Thomas Cushman (1608–1691) and wife, Mary Allerton (1616–1699) — settlers of the

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes spelled Plimouth) was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on t ...

. The lineage is all paternal, hence the same surname. Mary Allerton was a

passenger A passenger is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The vehicles may be bicycles, ...

on the

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English sailing ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reac ...

, the first ship to arrive in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

in 1620. Thomas Cushman was a passenger on the

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fate * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (19 ...

, the second ship to arrive in 1621. Cushman was also an eleventh generation

of Francis Eaton, also a

on the

and settler of

— a fourth generation female descendant of Francis Eaton married a third generation descendant of

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

and Mary Cushman. Nowadays, tens of millions of Americans have at least one ancestor from the

, many of whom affiliated with the Mayflower Society. But, according to Galton-Watson probability, only a fraction of that number have an unbroken chain of paternal lineage maintaining the same surname. ; Family Cushman married Rose Katherine Clausing October 4, 1952, in

Butler County, Ohio Butler County is a County (United States), county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 390,357. Its county seat and largest city is Hamilton, Ohio, Ham ...

. They had a daughter and a son and remained married years, until his death.

Notes and references

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cushman, Robert Herman 1924 births 1996 deaths Engineering journalists American magazine writers American science journalists Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni People from Old Lyme, Connecticut People from Port Washington, New York