Professor Peatman was born and grew up in Larchmont, New York. One of the defining events in his young life occurred when he contracted polio at fourteen, leaving him with weakness in his legs and feet.

Dr. Peatman completed his BSEE degree at Swarthmore College and then worked with Honeywell in inertial guidance, first in Minneapolis and then in St. Petersburg, Florida. He returned to academia at Case Institute of Technology (now Case Western Reserve University) and completed his MSEE degree.

To evaluate his interest in a teaching career, he then taught for two years as an Assistant Professor at the Missouri School of Mines (now Missouri University of Science and Technology). He resumed graduate studies at Case with a focus on digital systems design where he completed his Ph.D. degree.

Thereupon, he joined the Georgia Tech faculty to help develop the emerging area of digital systems design. Professor Peatman has augmented his learning with many summers of design activities with Hewlett-Packard Company plus a year-on-leave with HP in Scotland. His professional direction has been shaped by his course and instructional laboratory development which has, in turn, led to his authoring of seven textbooks. He has been a Director of Intelligent Systems Corporation since 1979.