Interviewed by Chris Bajorek on 2025-09-10
© Computer History Museum
Starting during his university studies at UC Berkeley and summer internships at IBM, Mr. Wiliam Carlson had a decades long career working on solving key technical problems, in multiple companies, which had significant positive impacts on the evolution of disk drives and semiconductor packages. After IBM he had assignments at startups like Caelus and CFI/Memorex as well as at Maxtor, Conner, Seagate, and Tessera. Examples of his contributions to solutions of significant problems range from durability of particulate magnetic disks to adoption of HEPA filters in disk drives to elimination of silicon chip failures caused by traces of radioactive elements in semiconductor packaging materials.
- Note: Transcripts represent what was said in the interview. However, to enhance meaning or add clarification, interviewees have the opportunity to modify this text afterward. This may result in discrepancies between the transcript and the video. Please refer to the transcript for further information – http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/300000156
Visit https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/oral-history for more information about the Computer History Museum’s Oral History Collection.
Catalog number: 300000157
Acquisition number: 2025.0134
About The Author
