Jack St. Clair Kilby (1923 - 2005) was an American electrical engineer and inventor who is credited with creating the first working integrated circuit, a breakthrough that made possible the microchips at the heart of modern computers and consumer electronics. [1] For this achievement he shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics. [2]
Early life and education
Jack Kilby was born on November 8, 1923, in Jefferson City, Missouri, and grew up in Great Bend, Kansas, where he attended Great Bend High School. [1] He earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and later a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin. [1]
Career and the integrated circuit
Kilby joined Texas Instruments in 1958. That summer, as a new employee with little accrued vacation, he worked largely alone in a nearly empty laboratory and conceived the idea of building an entire electronic circuit from a single block of semiconductor material. [3] In September 1958 he demonstrated the first working integrated circuit, showing that resistors, capacitors, and transistors could be fabricated together on one piece of germanium. [1]
Around the same period, Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor independently developed a related integrated-circuit design, and the two men are generally recognized as co-inventors of the technology. [5]
Later inventions
At Texas Instruments, Kilby led a team that developed the first handheld electronic calculator, one of the earliest mass-market products to showcase the power of integrated circuits. [3] He also contributed to the invention of the thermal printer. Over his career he was granted numerous patents. [1]
Honors and recognition
Kilby received many of the highest honors in science and engineering, including the National Medal of Science, the National Medal of Technology, the IEEE Medal of Honor, the Charles Stark Draper Prize, and the Kyoto Prize. [4] In 2000 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit. [2] He was also inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. [4]
Legacy
Kilby died in Dallas, Texas, on June 20, 2005. His invention of the integrated circuit is regarded as one of the defining technological advances of the twentieth century, underpinning the growth of computing, telecommunications, and the digital economy. [5]
References
- Jack Kilby - Wikipedia
- The Nobel Prize in Physics 2000 - Jack S. Kilby
- Texas Instruments - Jack Kilby and the history of the integrated circuit
- Jack S. Kilby - National Inventors Hall of Fame
- Jack Kilby - Encyclopaedia Britannica
