Misha Mahowald

Dr. Michelle (Misha) Mahowald (1963–1996) was born in Minneapolis, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As a girl, she used the name Misha as a nom-de-plume in her diary, but later adopted it as her official name. After graduating high school, she attended the California Institute of Technology, graduating with a degree in biology in 1985. She continued at Caltech as a PhD student under the supervision of Professor Carver Mead, a specialist in computer science. For her thesis, Mahowald created her own project by combining the fields of biology, computer science, and electrical engineering, to produce the 'silicon retina.'

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The silicon retina used analog electrical circuits to mimic the biological functions of rods and cones in the retina of the eye. The invention was not only highly original and potentially useful as a device for restoring sight to the blind, but it was also one of the most eclectic feats of electrical and biological engineering of the time. This remarkable example of engineering earned Mahowald a well-deserved reputation as one of the most famous female engineers of her age. She was awarded a doctorate in computational neuroscience in 1992, and her invention of the silicon retina and the silicon neuron earned her articles in the prestigious scientific journals Scientific American and Nature, as well as four patents and the Clauser Prize for her dissertation.

Mahowald then re-located to Oxford for one year to do a post-doctoral fellowship with prestigious scientists Kevan Martin and Rodney Douglas. After the completion of this project, Mahowald moved to Zurich, Switzerland to help found the Institute Fuer Neuroinformatick, a research institution founded to merge the studies of computer science and cognitive neuroscience.

Like many creative genius', Mahowald was a complicated individual, haunted by conflicting emotions. While drawn passionately to science itself, she did not find a career in science welcoming to women. She felt out of place with, and often misunderstood by the mostly male student body at Caltech, and outnumbered by the predominantly male faculty there and elsewhere. Also, she found that the profession of scientist was one which drew her farther and farther away from her family and home environment, and she was not happy in either Oxford or Zurich. Tragically, Mahowald died in Zurich in 1996 at the age of 33. However, she should be remembered not only as a pioneer in the field of electrical engineering, but also as a pioneering woman in field where women have not always felt welcomed.

References

[1] Mahowald, M. An Analog VLSI System for Stereoscopic Vision (Kluwer Academic, Boston, 1994).