Jack Kilby


In the summer of 1958, Kilby was a newly employed engineer at TI who didn't yet have the right to a summer vacation. He spent the whole summer working on the problem of "tyranny of numbers" and finally came to the conclusion that all that they need is semiconductors. On September 12 he presented his findings to the management of Texas Instruments. He showed them a piece of germanium, pressed a switch, and the attached oscilloscope showed a continuous sine wave, proving that he solved the problem. A patent for a "Solid Circuit made of Germanium", the first integrated circuit, was later filed on February 6, 1959.

From 1978 to 1985, he was Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000 for his breakthrough discovery. The J-K flip-flop is named after him, as is The Kilby Center, TI's research center for silicon manufacturing.

"In my opinion, there are only a handful of people whose works have truly transformed the world and the way we live in it -- Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers and Jack Kilby," said Tom Engibous, chairman of Texas Instruments, in a statement. "If there was ever a seminal invention that transformed not only our industry but our world, it was Jack's invention of the first integrated circuit."

In addition to the integrated circuit, Kilby also is noted as the patenting inventor of the portable calculator and the thermal printer used in data terminals. In total, he held 60 patents.

Kilby passed away June 20, 2005, in Dallas, Texas following a brief battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Info:

Jack Kilby is the recipient of two of the nation's most prestigious honors in science and engineering. In 1970, in a White House ceremony, he received the National Medal of Science. In 1982, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, taking his place alongside Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and the Wright Brothers in the annals of American innovation.

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