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Photos: Book celebrates Texas Instruments

by ZDNet Author  |  July 20, 2006 2:45pm PDT  |  Image 10 of 13

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Jack Kilby
There it is, the world's first integrated circuit, invented in 1958 by new engineer Jack Kilby. Kilby, who would win the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention, made it while most other employees were on company-wide vacation.

It consists of a germanium sliver 7/16th of an inch long by 1/16th on a piece of glass.

While Kilby did it first, the integrated circuit built by Intel founder Robert Noyce shortly afterward became the design the electronic industry adopted. While Kilby and Noyce argued about who deserved the most credit, the two managed to bury the hatchet. Kilby in fact invited Gordon Moore (Noyce was dead) to join him at the Nobel ceremony.

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