most celebrated dropout." Four years later he returned to National Semiconductor as a contractor and produced a series of advanced linear ICs, including the first ultra-low-voltage operational amplifier with precision 200mV voltage reference (LM10). Widlar's eccentric, and outspoken personality, and his bohemian lifestyle made him the enfant terrible of Silicon Valley. He is remembered in legends, myths and anecdotes that are largely true. According to Bo Lojek, author of History of Semiconductor Engineering, he was "more artist than an engineer ... in the environment where Human Relations Departments define what engineers can and cannot comment about, it is very unlikely that we will see his kind again." Fairchild Semiconductor (1963–1965) Work at Ball Research brought Widlar in contact with Jean Hoerni and Sheldon Roberts, the creators of radiation hardened transistors and co-founders of Fairchild Semiconductor. Widlar decided to move to a semiconductor manufacturing company, and in 1963 Jerry Sanders, a Fairchild Semiconductor salesman, provided him the opportunity. According to Thomas Lee, Fairchild also wanted to have Widlar on board, and breached professional ethics by recruiting a key employee of their customer. In September 1963 Widlar was invited for an interview with Fairchild research and development (R&D) manager Heinz Ruegg. Widlar arrived at the interview intoxicated, and frankly told Ruegg what he thought about Fairchild's analog circuits: "What they are doing is bullshit". Widlar was sent to another interview with the company's Applications Engineering division, which was based in Mountain View, California. The division head, John Hulme, hired Widlar despite objections from the first round interviewers. Widlar's first assignment at Fairchild targeted IC reliability through adjustments in fabrication processes. This early work, directed by process engineer David Talbert, reduced the cost of the planar process and made possible development of monolithic (fully integrated) linear ICs. Widlar, who formally reported to John Barrett, proved himself capable of quickly improving Barrett's own designs and very soon squeezed his nominal boss out of the company. In 1963 Fairchild's analog IC lineup, designed to military specifications, consisted of three amplifier circuits. Before Widlar, Fairchild's engineers had designed analog ICs in a style not unlike conventional circuits built with discrete devices. Despite realizing early on that this approach was impractical, owing to the severe limitations of the early planar process, they had not devised working alternatives (active loads and active current sources had yet to be invented). When the original schematic required resistor values that were