Posted on 09/15/2008 9:14:23 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — The computer chip industry on Friday celebrated the 50th birthday of the integrated circuit, a breakthrough that set the stage for the Internet and the Digital Age.
A half-century ago a young engineer named Jack Kilby first demonstrated an integrated circuit he designed while working through the summer at his Texas Instruments job because he didn't have enough vacation time for a holiday.
Kilby used a sliver of conductive germanium to connect a transistor and other bits, dubbing the soldered assembly an "integrated circuit" (IC).
Engineer Robert Noyce was designing his own IC "in parallel" at Fairchild Semiconductor but didn't debut his creation until about six months later. Noyce went on to found US chip making giant Intel in 1968.
While Kilby was the first to demonstrate an IC, Noyce came up with a design that could be mass produced, according to Leslie Berlin, project historian for Stanford Silicon Valley Archives and author of a book about Noyce.
"It was an idea whose time had come," Berlin told AFP. "There were efforts all over the world to make something like an integrated circuit."
History gives Noyce and Kilby shared credit for inventing the circuit that transformed the world of electronics.
"The IC was an idea so revolutionary, so life-changing, we don't even remember the world before it came along," Texas Instruments chief executive Rich Templeton said at a ceremony honoring Kilby.
"And we can't imagine life without it."
The year Kilby demonstrated his circuit, computers were colossal machines that filled rooms and were commanded by coded punch cards.
Televisions featured black-and-white pictures and few channels. The only telephones were wired in place. There were no iPods, flat-screen televisions, Internet searches or laptop computers.
Integrated circuits replaced vacuum tubes; bulky bulbs that guzzle electricity, spew heat and burn out.
(Excerpt) Read more at afp.google.com ...
I guess this explains those performance bottlenecks. Hasn’t the circuit burned out yet? Whoa, they really built ‘em back then. ;’)
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