Robert Noyce
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| Robert Noyce | |
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| Born | December 12, 1927 Burlington, Iowa |
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| Died | June 3, 1990 (aged 62) |
| Occupation | Co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and 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.
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[edit] 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 <a href="/wiki/Fairchild_Semicon