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Through Electrical engineering, Electronics and World War II
Kilby was also a co-inventor of the handheld calculator and the thermal printer, for which he had the patents. He also had patents for seven other inventions.
Early life and education
Jack St. Clair Kilby was born on November 8, 1923, in Jefferson City, Missouri. He was raised in Great Bend, Kansas, where his father ran a small electric company that served customers in rural western Kansas. While in high school, a huge ice storm knocked down most of the poles that carried the telephone and electric power lines. His father's company had to use amateur radio operators for communication in the areas where customers had lost their power and phone service. This event sparked his interest in electronics.
After serving in the U.S. Army as an electronics technician during World War II, Kilby began studying electrical engineering at the University of Illinois, graduating with a B.S. in 1947. He then joined the Centralab Division of Globe Union, Inc., an electronics manufacturer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While working in Milwaukee, Kilby continued his education at the Milwaukee State Teachers College (now the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee), where he obtained an M.S. in 1950.
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Invention of the integrated circuit
Kilby was vital to the invention of the integrated circuit. In mid-1958, as a newly employed engineer at Texas Instruments (TI), he did not yet have the right to a summer vacation. Kilby spent the summer working on the problem in circuit design that was commonly called the "tyranny of numbers," and he finally came to the conclusion that the manufacturing of circuit components en masse in a single piece of semiconductor material could provide a solution. On September 12, he presented his findings to company's management, which included Mark Shepherd. He showed them a piece of germanium with an oscilloscope attached, pressed a switch, and the oscilloscope showed a continuous sine wave, proving that his integrated circuit worked, and thus that he had solved the problem. U.S. Patent 3,138,743 for "Miniaturized electronic circuits," the first integrated circuit, was filed on February 6, 1959. It was notable for having different components (transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, etc.) on one single substrate. Along with Robert Noyce (who independently made a similar circuit a few months later), Kilby is generally credited as co-inventor of the integrated circuit.
Later career
Kilby went on to pioneer military, industrial, and commercial applications of microchip technology. He headed teams that created the first military system and the first computer incorporating integrated circuits. He invented the handheld calculator (along with Jerry Merryman and James Van Tassel).
In 1970, Kilby took a leave of absence from TI to work as an independent inventor. He explored, among other subjects, the use of silicon technology for generating electrical power from sunlight. From 1978 to 1984, he held the position of Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University.
Kilby retired from Texas Instruments in 1983.
Family
In 1948, Kilby married Barbara Annegers. They had two daughters, Ann and Janet.
Death and legacy
Kilby died of cancer on June 20, 2005, in Dallas, Texas, at the age of 81.
On December 14, 2005, Texas Instruments created the Historic TI Archives. The Jack Kilby family donated his personal manuscripts and his personal photograph collection to Southern Methodist University (SMU). The collection will be cataloged and stored at DeGolyer Library, SMU.
In 2008, the SMU School of Engineering, with the DeGolyer Library and the Library of Congress, hosted a year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the birth of the digital age with Kilby's Nobel Prize-winning invention of the integrated circuit. Symposia and exhibits examined the many ways in which technology and engineers shaped the modern world. Kilby held an honorary doctorate of science from SMU and was a longtime associate of SMU through the Kilby Foundation.
Recognition
Awards
Memberships
National awards
Honorary degrees
Commemoration
The Kilby Award Foundation was founded in 1980 in his honor, and the IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal was created in 1995.
The Kilby Labs, TI's research laboratory for silicon manufacturing and integrated circuit design, is named after him.
The Jack Kilby Computer Centre at the Merchiston Campus of Edinburgh Napier University in Edinburgh is also named in his honor.
A statue of Jack Kilby stands in Texas Instruments Plaza on the campus of The University of Texas at Dallas.
Barton Community College in Great Bend, Kansas, holds an annual Jack Kilby STEM Day.
References bibliography
- Berlin, Leslie The man behind the microchip: Robert Noyce and the invention of Silicon Valley Publisher Oxford University Press US, 2005 ISBN 0-19-516343-5
- Lécuyer, Christophe. Making Silicon Valley: Innovation and the Growth of High Tech, 1930-1970 Published by MIT Press, 2006.ISBN 0262122812
- Nobel lectures, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 2000.