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To honor
Freeman's memory, encourage technical innovation, and reward employees, Xilinx began a new tradition in 1992 of honoring a Xilinx employee each year with the Ross Freeman Award for Technical Innovation. Participants are nominated, finalists are chosen by a nomination committee at Xilinx and
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would be getting less expensive each year, making customizable programmable chips affordable. The idea was "far out" at the time, but the company and technology grew quickly, eventually catching the attention of new-found competitors in what is now a mature industry.
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Freeman earned a BS degree in physics from
Michigan State University in 1969 and a master’s from University of Illinois in 1971. He worked in the Peace Corps for several years, then went to
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Freeman died in 1989, only a few years after creating a new industry with the FPGA and launching what would become a multi-billion dollar company.
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can reprogram as much as needed to add new functionality, adapt to changing standards or specifications and make last minute design changes.
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Freeman was born in the upper peninsula of
Michigan on July 26, 1948. He grew up on a farm near Engadine, Michigan.
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112:'s 50th anniversary so the hall of fame inductees were themed with inventions fundamental to modern computing.
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Xilinx Co-Founder Ross
Freeman Honored as 2009 National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductee for Invention of FPGA
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award winners are chosen by a vote from the company's technical staff.
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Freeman co-founded Xilinx in 1984, and a year later invented the first
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In 2006, 17 years after his death, Freeman was inducted into the
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85:(FPGA). Freeman's invention - patent 4,870,302 - is a
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26:(July 26, 1948 – October 22, 1989), was an American
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