He married his high-school sweetheart, Andrea Berti, and, in 1977, became an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Stanford.

NEWYORKER: Get Rich U.

Because the technique uses off-the-shelf wireless transceivers similar to those used in home computer networks, "the cost of this system will be cheaper than existing methods of monitoring breathing, " says Neal Patwari, senior author of a study of the new method and an assistant professor of electrical engineering.

ENGADGET: Researchers use wireless network to monitor breathing, could save lives