Dean was a sanskrit scholar. A few years ago the Philosophical Research Society published his translation of the Upanishads and Yoga Sutras. He was a physicist of the highest order - making contributions to the development of the hydrogen bomb and designing the fuel element for the Nautilus, the world's first nuclear submarines. In his youth, he worked at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Princeton - and was a friend and colleague of Albert Einstein.
Dean was also a computer scientist. Dean was a founder of Zylog, Inc., a company that manufactured one of the first microprocessors, the Z80 chip - which is still in use today. Dean was instrumental in designing that chip. Another company that he founded, Picodyne, is still active today in the field of educational software.