R.I.P. Jack Kilby

June 22, 2005 5:56 AM

Jack Kilby, inventor of the monolithic integrated circuit (microchip) at Texas Instruments in 1958, died Monday. His vision lives on through the Kilby International Awards and Kilby Laureates "who symbolize the power of the individual creative mind to change the world, forever."
posted by tpl1212 (5 comments total)

Michael Riordan and Lillian hoddeson's _Crystal Fire_ gives a great narrative of the invention. He was a new employee at TI and didn't have vacation to use that summer. He was left all alone to tinker with an idea that had been brewing for a while. Brilliant stuff.

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posted by jmgorman at 6:43 AM on June 22, 2005

I lived and went to community college in a northern suburb of Dallas where everybody in my engineering program knew somebody who worked at TI and/or wanted to work there themselves. Jack Kilby was a legend of sorts to us back then.
posted by alumshubby at 6:59 AM on June 22, 2005

I always preferred his version of the Silver Surfer to Moebius's.
posted by jonson at 7:39 AM on June 22, 2005

I tried to post this yesterday, but I guess you have to comment a few times before you can make a FPP?

When I co-op'd at TI, they had a congratulations ceremony when Kilby won the Nobel prize. There was a book that co-workers could sign, sort of like a huge, bound greeting card. One of my co-workers proposed this message:

Dear Jack,

Thanks for ruining my career.

Sincerely,
The Guy Who Invented the Vacuum Tube

In seriousness, his contribution is huge. On top of that, I've heard he was a really nice fellow to boot.
posted by therealadam at 11:41 AM on June 22, 2005

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posted by gyc at 2:57 PM on June 22, 2005