When professors get coffee, inventions happen

by Matthew Dolbey, Campus Editor
November 06, 2003

University of Wisconsin material-science professor John Perepezko said he and Chancellor John Wiley developed the concept for a microchip later installed in Playstation 2 over idle chitchat and a cup of coffee.
"One of [the] things when we're just sitting together having coffee is talking about ideas," Perepezko said.

Perepzko met Wiley, then an electrical-engineering professor, more than a decade ago. The two have seen their names in the media recently for a patent they made together that was allegedly used without permission by Sony in the Playstation 2 and in some Toshiba products distributed in America.

"[Wiley and I] got together for coffee," he said. "[Wiley] brought up issues that he thought would be roadblocks to progress."

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