Jack Kilby

Jack St. Clair Kilby (November 8, 1923 – June 20, 2005) was an American electrical engineer who took part, along with Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor, in the realization of the first integrated circuit while working at Texas Instruments in 1958.Template:Rp For this invention, Kilby shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics.

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.

Invention of the integrated circuit

File:Kilby solid circuit.jpg

Kilby's original integrated circuit, 1958.

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.Template:R/superscript 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

Year	Organization	Award	Citation	Template:Reference column heading
1966	Template:Flagicon Franklin Institute	Stuart Ballantine MedalTemplate:Efn	"For the development of monolithic integrated circuits (microchips)."
1966	Template:Flagicon IEEE	IEEE David Sarnoff Award	"For his outstanding creative contribution in the field of monolithic integrated circuits, for his key inventions and for his team leadership in the application of integrated circuits to large scale systems."
1978	Template:Flagicon IEEE	IEEE Cledo Brunetti AwardTemplate:Efn	"For contributions to miniaturization through inventions and the development of integrated circuits."
1982	Template:Flagicon ASME	Holley Medal	—
1986	Template:Flagicon IEEE	IEEE Medal of Honor	"For fundamental contributions to semiconductor integrated circuit technology."
1989	Template:Flagicon ASME	Holley MedalTemplate:Efn	—
1989	Template:Flagicon National Academy of Engineering	Charles Stark Draper PrizeTemplate:Efn	"For their independent development of the monolithic integrated circuit."
1990	Template:Flagicon ASME	Robert Henry Thurston Lecture Award	—
1993	Template:Flagicon IEEE Computer Society	Computer Pioneer Award	"For co-inventing the integrated circuit."
1993	Template:Flagicon Inamori Foundation	Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology	"Creation of the Concept of the Monolithic Semiconductor Integrated Circuit and Its Demonstration."
1999	Template:Flagicon Western Society of Engineers	Washington Award	"For his distinguished electronics career, including the invention of the monolithic integrated circuit which was the foundation for modern electrics."
2000	Template:Flagicon Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences	Nobel Prize in PhysicsTemplate:Efn	"For his part in the invention of the integrated circuit."
2000	Template:Flagicon University of Pennsylvania	Harold Pender Award	"For his contribution to the invention of the integrated circuit, or microchip."

Memberships

Year	Organization	Type	Template:Reference column heading
1967	Template:Flagicon National Academy of Engineering	Member
2001	Template:Flagicon American Philosophical Society	Member

National awards

Year	Head of state	Award	Citation	Template:Reference column heading
1969	Template:Flagicon Richard Nixon	National Medal of Science	"For original conceptions and valuable contributions in the production and application of integrated circuits."
1990	Template:Flagicon George H. W. Bush	National Medal of Technology and Innovation	"For original conceptions and valuable contributions in the production and application of integrated circuits."

Honorary degrees

Year	University	Degree	Template:Reference column heading
1988	Template:Flagicon University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	—
1990	Template:Flagicon University of Wisconsin–Madison	Doctor of Science
1995	Template:Flagicon Southern Methodist University	Doctor of Science
1996	Template:Flagicon Yale University	Doctor of Science

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.

See also

• Geoffrey Dummer

References bibliography

• Berlin, Leslie The man behind the microchip: Robert Noyce and the invention of Silicon Valley Publisher Oxford University Press US, 2005 Template:ISBN
• Lécuyer, Christophe. Making Silicon Valley: Innovation and the Growth of High Tech, 1930-1970 Published by MIT Press, 2006.Template:ISBN
• Nobel lectures, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 2000.

External links

• Template:Sister-inline

• "Jack St. Clair Kilby: A Man of Few Words", biography by Ed Millis.
• "From concept to cosmos: How Jack Kilby's integrated circuit transformed the electronics industry" , biography by Texas Instruments.
• "Jack Kilby, Touching Lives on Micro and Macro Scales" by T.R. Reid, The Washington Post (June 2005).
• Jack S. Kilby Patents
• "Tribute to Jack Kilby", Dream 2047, November 2005