Robert Noyce

Robert Noyce
Born December 12, 1927(1927-12-12)
Burlington, IowaDied June 3, 1990(aged 62)
Occupation Co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductorand Intel

Robert Noyce (December 12, 1927 – June 3, 1990), nicknamed "the Mayor of Silicon Valley", co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 and Intel in 1968. He is also credited (along with Jack Kilby) with the invention of the integrated circuit or microchip. While Kilby's invention was 6 months earlier, he did not share his finding publicly, and neither man rejected the title of co-inventor.

1 Biography
2 Legacy
3 Further reading
4 External links

Biography

Noyce was born in Burlington, Iowa to Ralf and Harriet Noyce. He graduated with a BA in physics from Grinnell College in 1949 and a Ph.D. in physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1953.

While a student at Grinnell College, Noyce stole a pig from a nearby farmer for a college luau and then slaughtered it in Clark Hall. Confessing to the prank and offering to pay for the pig nearly earned him expulsion, if not for the intervention of Grant O. Gale, a physics professor at the time.[citation needed]

He joined William Shockley at the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory division of Beckman Instruments, but left with the "Traitorous Eight" to create the influential Fairchild Semiconductor corporation.

Robert Noyce and Gordon E. Moore (a chemist and physicist) founded Intel in 1968 when they left Fairchild Semiconductor. It is widely known that Noyce was disliked by one-time Intel CEO Andy Grove, who became the company's president in 1979. Grove is notorious for his directness in finding fault. He thought Noyce's "nice guy" attitude irritating and felt it was ineffectual.

Intel's headquarters building, the Robert Noyce Building, in Santa Clara, California is named in his honor, as is the Robert N. Noyce '49 Science Center, which houses the science division of Grinnell College, as is the conference room of the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico .

Noyce was awarded the IEEE Medal of Honor in 1978 "for his contributions to the silicon integrated circuit, a cornerstone of modern electronics."

In his last interview , Noyce was asked what he would do if he were “emperor” of the United States. He said that he would, among other things, “make sure we are preparing our next generation to flourish in a high-tech age. And that means education of the lowest and the poorest, as well as at the graduate school level.”

Noyce died from heart failure in 1990, aged 62.

Legacy

The Noyce Foundation was founded in 1991 by his family. The foundation is dedicated to improving public education in mathematics and science in grades K-12.

External links

Business positions Preceded by
Company founded Intel CEO
1968–1975Succeeded by
Gordon Moore v • d • e IEEE Medal of Honor1976-2000

H. Earle Vaughan (1977) · Robert Noyce (1978) · Richard Bellman (1979) · William Shockley (1980) · Sidney Darlington (1981) · John Tukey (1982) · Nicolaas Bloembergen (1983) · Norman F. Ramsey (1984) · John Roy Whinnery (1985) · Jack Kilby (1986) · Paul Lauterbur (1987) · Calvin Quate (1988) · C. Kumar Patel (1989) · Robert G. Gallager (1990) · Leo Esaki (1991) · Amos E. Joel, Jr. (1992) · Karl Johan Åström (1993) · Alfred Y. Cho (1994) · Lotfi A. Zadeh (1995) · Robert Metcalfe (1996) · George H. Heilmeier (1997) · Donald Pederson (1998) · Charles Concordia (1999) · Andrew Grove (2000)

Complete roster: 1917–1925 · 1926–1950 · 1951–1975 · 1976–2000 · 2001–present

PersondataNAME Noyce, Robert ALTERNATIVE NAMES Noyce, Bob SHORT DESCRIPTION Co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductorand IntelDATE OF BIRTH December 12, 1927PLACE OF BIRTH Burlington, IowaDATE OF DEATH June 3, 1990PLACE OF DEATH