Engineering Memory of the Month

The French Connection

On March 26, 1984, the president of France became a Stanford student for a day. Francois Mitterrand visited the Center for Integrated Systems to meet with Stanford professors and technology magnates to learn more about the emerging economic powerhouse called Silicon Valley.

The New York Times covered the visit, quoting one of Mitterrand’s advisors:

''The President has always said that the future of France is tied to modern technology,'' an adviser to Mr. Mitterrand said. ''It is the great chiefs of technology, the men who are the builders of systems who inspire the President's curiosity. They're going to explain to the President how they function and what are their rewards.''

''Silicon Valley is the site of an enormous success,'' the adviser said, referring to the region where many of the new electronics industries are based. ''We want to know the reasons for that success.''

In the photo, taken by Stanford’s Chuck Painter, Mitterrand is fifth from the left. The people on either side of him were among the most notable technology celebrities of the time. Here they are from left to right: venture capitalist David Morgenthaler; mainframe pioneer Gene Amdahl, Professor (now emeritus) John Linvill, Intel co-founder Robert Noyce, Mitterrand, then-Vice Provost Gerald Lieberman, Professor (now emeritus) James Meindl, Apple founder Steve Jobs, Nobel Laureate Paul Berg, Genentech then-Chairman Thomas Perkins, Hewlett Packard then-president John Young, Professor (now emeritus) Edward Feigenbaum, and venture capitalist Burton McMurtry.

No word on whether they shared any wine, either French or Californian.

We are interested in your nostalgic photos and the stories they tell. If you'd like to share them with the Stanford Engineering community, e-mail them to David Orenstein , Manager, Communications and P.R.

– April 2009