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Integrated Circuit Inventor Jack Kilby Dead at 81
geekotourist writes " Jack Kilby , inventor of the integrated circuit, one winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics (Robert Noyce died in 1990), died June 20th after a brief battle with cancer. In 1958 he invented the foundation for a trillion dollar industry as a substitute for going on vacation." Update: 06/22 02:03 GMT by T : Kilby was 81, not 91 as the headline originally indicated.
To see a man of his importance go but least his influence is seen everywhere. I don't think anyone can claim that they are not affected by his invention. Intergrated circuits chips can be found everywhere.
Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
While it's sad to see him go, I have to wonder if his legacy isn't the easing of mankind's stress levels but accelerating it to the stratosphere. Computers have done wonders in improving our productivity, but at the cost of making humans part of the machine. We live according to the schedule of the computer rather than the other way around.
Many nights I've sat here staring at this computer trying to think of a way to make my job easier. Unfortunately, the only way to do that is to toss the entire system out wholesale.
I don't imagine that Kilby thought it would lead to less human contact, less face to face time, and less free time for everyone. He probably thought of it as a way to increase efficiency and ultimately reduce our workload.
How incredibly wrong he was.
That would be surreal. It makes me wonder if he was satified in the path his technology has taken... or just pissed about royalties.
I am billdar, and I approve this message.
Just to point out an interesting tidbit about his invention of the IC, he was a new employee at TI in 1958. While everyone else was on vacation he had to find something to work on, as he had no vacation time saved up yet. (In those days TI would normally shut down most operations for maintenance and most employees would take their vacation) As much as those around him told him that his idea would never work, he used his time to prove them all wrong.
(history is just about the only thing you actually learn in those training days when you first start a job at a company like Texas Instruments)
To steer this comment back on topic though, I'd like to thank Mr. Kilby for his tremendous accomplishment; the modern world owes much to your work (and of course to that of Mr. Noyce as well). I was at UIUC in 2000 when Jack Kilby (BSEE '47) won his Nobel Prize, and I remember the publicity at the time. He was recognized during halftime of a football game that fall- I swear he got more cheers than the team did any time that season.
"FDA staff reviewers expressed concern about the number of patients who were left out of the study because they died."
Just look at Noyce, who had the same idea at the same time. It seems clear the time was ripe for the idea.
This is so often the case. The entire human race wasn't sitting still, waiting for the guy to make the transistor -- just 99.999999% of us.
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
From the substitute for going on vacation article:
This guy was a true hacker! I wish I had the opportunity to meet him. Rest in peace Jack Kilby.
The bits on the bus go on and off... on and off... on and off...
This is probably an urban legend. More likely it was the initials of John J. Kardash, who in the 1950's arbitrarily used his initials on these pins on his blueprints, and it stuck.
I heard Jack Kilby speak at an MAA meeting a couple of years ago, and I was astonished to learn that all his IC patents (and, consequently, his Nobel Prize) were based on his notarized notebook entries and not on publications (those came later).
In the last ten years as a software developer I have had only one employer require me to keep a bound notebook of my work, while the others did not. I kept a notebook anyway, but I had to pay for it myself.
Jack Kilby is said to have invented the integrated circuit. This is not entirely correct for three reasons.
1) Jack Kilby simply jumpered wires around a semiconductor. At the same time and before at Fairchild, Bob Noyce produced a planar process that we use today. Subsequently, TI used Noyce's process, not Kilby's.
2) A lawyer at TI argued for years that Jack Kilby invented the IC. Fairchild was awarded the first patent for the IC, but eventually gave up. Since the lawyer won the case despite all of the evidence against Kilby, the Nobel committee should have included the lawyer in the Nobel prize. He is partly responsible for it.
3) If Intel (the eventual home of Noyce) were to claim that Noyce invented the IC, it would have given an expensive gift to Fairchild. Fairchild at one point could have sued Intel for all Noyce walked out with. It would create a mess. TI claimed all along that Kilby invented the IC. Corporate publicity won the day.
Then shouldn't we be going home earlier?
I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to meet him back in the early 70's through my girlfriends father who worked with him at TI. Even sadder though it how TI laid them both off as they approached retirement. Not sure how Mr Kirby handled it, but it devestated my gf's father. He never recovered from giving most of his professional carreer to TI and getting laid off.
Wherever you go, there you are.
Oh, not just this. I remember an article a few years ago about a scientist who came up with a way of reproducing any type of biological material (via DNA) thousands of times faster than previously available. He worked at a large pharmaceutical company and had to work on a project. The project was concluded 18 months ahead of schedule. With funding still coming in and a very powerful computer available, he worked on his pet project. Suddenly genetic material was cheap, fast and available in massive quantities. The scientific world went on it's ear after he produced his work. The company made millions (him too). But after that, instead of being ignored by top brass, he saw timetables, was asked to fill in flow and progress charts and come up with bi-weekly progress reports. They wanted to know when they could expect to see returns on new investments from work they thought would bring in the most profits. (percentages of returns per year estimates too). He was gone in less than 3 months. The company just couldn't understand why......
The integrated circuit was first conceived by a radar scientist, Geoffrey W.A. Dummer (born 1909), working for the Royal Radar Establishment of the British Ministry of Defence, and published in Washington DC on May 7, 1952. Dummer unsuccessfully attempted to build such a circuit in 1956.
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