Hans Camenzind was born and raised in Switzerland and moved to the U.S. after college. He received an MSEE from Northeastern University and an MBA from the University of Santa Clara. After several years doing research in the Boston area, he joined Signetics (now Philips) on the West Coast and later started his own company, Interdesign. After heading it for seven years he sold Interdesign to Plessey.

Since then he has been an independent analog IC designer and author. During his career he wrote three textbooks, designed the first integrated class D amplifier, introduced the phase-locked loop concept to ICs, invented the semicustom IC and created the 555 timer. He has designed 152 standard and custom ICs so far.

Books:

Designing Analog Chips, 2005 (free download at www.designinganalogchips.com)
Much Ado About Almost Nothing, 2007 (a history of electronics, see www.historyofelectronics.com)