Fergie's Tech Blog

Inventor of integrated circuit dies

Thanks to the folks over at The Inquirer for bringing our attention to this item.

JACK KILBY, who helped invent the integrated circuit when he was at Texas Instruments, has died, aged 81.

Kilby was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000 for the part he played in inventing the IC.

The Gentle Giant, as he was known, started working for TI in 1958 when the notion of the IC came to him.

Initially, his ideas were treated with caution, but TI eventually built a unit which was tested on the 12th of September 1958. TI started producing integrated circuit samples in 1960.

Where would we be without it? Even computers built with transistors were ungainly beasts, so much more so those built with valves, or vacuum tubes.

Mr Kilby leaves a large family, and TI said it will place more information on its web site, here, in consultation with his relatives.

posted by Fergie @ 6/21/2005 09:54:00 AM