Inventor who kicked off computer revolution dies

This appeared in my twice daily feed of ABC News. My appreciation to ABC news for the story +++++++++++++++++++++++ *Inventor who kicked off computer revolution dies* Jack Kilby, the inventor of the integrated circuit which provided the basis of the computer chip revolution, has died of cancer. Mr Kilby, 81, made the discovery 47 years ago, when, as a recently hired engineer at Texas Instruments, he was left to work alone in a laboratory while most of his 7,500 colleagues were taking a company-wide summer holiday. As a newly hired employee, Mr Kilby did not qualify to take a holiday in August 1958. "It was a very quiet time and he got a lot done," said Pat Weber, 65, a long-time colleague and friend of Mr Kilby, who retired as vice chairman of the Dallas-based Texas Instruments in 1998. The company announced his death on Tuesday. Mr Kilby, a seminal 20th century inventor whom many place in the same league as Henry Ford and the Wright Brothers, won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2000 for his work. By hand-wiring together multiple transistors, Mr Kilby's invention - about half the size of a paper clip - spawned a revolution in miniaturisation in which millions of circuits are now housed on tiny pieces of silicon used in devices from computers to elevators to pacemakers. Working in parallel at pioneering Silicon Valley company Fairchild Semiconductor, Mr Kilby's rival Bob Noyce sketched out his own ideas for an integrated circuit in an engineering notebook - then forgot about it, according to a new biography of Mr Noyce's life. Mr Kilby, on the other hand, immediately recognised the value of his invention and built a working prototype in a matter of days, according to associates at Texas Instruments. Mr Kilby and Texas Instruments were first to patent the integrated circuit. Mr Noyce, who later co-founded Intel Corp, and Fairchild Semiconductor are credited with making the integrated circuit manufacturable on a mass production basis. While the competition sparked a 25-year patent battle between the companies over royalties from the invention, the "Kilby patent" weathered all legal challenges. ++++++++++ Kevin Parker Web Services Consultant WorkCover Corporation p: 08 8233 2548 m: 0418 806 166 e: kparker at workcover.com w: www.workcover.com ++++++++++ ************************************************************************ This e-mail is intended for the use of the addressee only. It may contain information that is protected by legislated confidentiality and/or is legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient you are prohibited from disseminating, distributing or copying this e-mail. Any opinion expressed in this e-mail may not necessarily be that of the WorkCover Corporation of South Australia. Although precautions have been taken, the sender cannot warrant that this e-mail or any files transmitted with it are free of viruses or any other defect. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and destroy the original e-mail and any copies. ************************************************************************