https://stream.echo6.co/videos/watch/3616888c-3067-486c-a67e-e81ee9b91569 This video (which is 5 minutes and 55 seconds long on the watch page) is being released at 5:55am on the 5th day of the 5th month on the 55th anniversary of the 555. There will also be a 55 minute live stream at 5:55pm UK time on the same day. The video is a demo of the extraordinary NE555 timer chip. One of the first integrated circuits that is still in widespread use 55 years after its original design. I bought the 555 I used in this video from CPC in the UK, who supply genuine Texas Instruments chips. Designed by Hans Camenzind for Signetics, it's a very versatile IC that contains what could best be described as electronic Lego building blocks that allow it to be used as a timer, oscillator, threshold detector and many other things. It has the huge benefit of a wide voltage range (4.5V to 16V) and the ability to directly drive loads of up to 200mA from its output. Hans reportedly said that he would have designed the chip differently these days, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. He was working in uncharted territory in 1971 and pretty much scored a direct hit. I would guess that while modern chips have the same functionality they will have evolved internally to suit modern manufacturing techniques. The idea that the 555 was named after the three 5K resistors in its voltage divider was refuted by Hans Camenzind who said the catchy name was coined by a marketer with the suspiciously "showbiz" name of Art Fury. But how do we know that My Fury didn't get inspired by references to the three divider resistors during meetings? I'd also like to give a shoutout to other "daddy chips" still going strong in this era. Notably the LM358 dual op-amp, the LM324 quad op-amp the LM393 comparator and many TTL/CMOS logic chips. They frequently appear in modern products. Let me know of any other worthy daddy chips in the comments. Even the world of microcontrollers has its own daddies. The 8051 microcontroller architecture is still found in many generic Chinese chips, and yet dates back to 1980 - making it over 45 years old. If you enjoy my videos, supporting the channel on Patreon helps keep it independent of YouTube's quirks, avoids intrusive mid-video adverts, gives early access, bonus footage and regular quiet Patreon live streams. https://www.patreon.com/bigclive Alternatively, for a single coffee contribution you can use PayPal:- https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/bigclive #ElectronicsCreators Wed, 06 May 2026 00:57:11 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://stream.echo6.co https://stream.echo6.co/client/assets/images/icons/icon-512x512.png https://stream.echo6.co/videos/watch/3616888c-3067-486c-a67e-e81ee9b91569 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://stream.echo6.co/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.