The passing of an unsung hero

[jraef]

Monday the 20th of June marked the passing of Jack St. Clair Kilby, the Electrical Engineer who launched our modern age by inventing the silicon semiconductor "chip" in 1958. He was a new-hire engineer at Texas Instruments and everyone else went on vacation except him because he had no time built up. So he had the research lab all to himself for 2 weeks and came up with this monolithic subtrate that could act as a switch. He said he did it fast because he knew that they would put him back in a corner when the tenured engineers returned from vacation!

He died in Dallas Texas at the ripe old age of 81. He received the Nobel Prize for physics in 2000, yet the general public is largely unaware of who he was or what he did. IMHO, he should be lauded with the likes of Edison and Herny Ford for changing the way the world works, but alas, it didn't happen in his own time. I for one am turning all my electronic devices off or a moment of "silicon silence" in his honor.

Having started my education at the end of the Slide Rule Era, I was also greatly appreciative of his most successful commercial invention, the electronic calculator in 1965. By the time I hit college, I was able (although barely) to buy one of the first Texas Instuments scientific calculators, thus freeing myself from the fetters of the Slide Rule in my shirt pocket. That transformed my image from "nerd" to "cool engineer with great toys" in the eyes of the fairer sex. This allowed me to eventually procreate, a fate I had previously deemed unattainable as long as I had to carry around that stupid slide rule. As my daughter is about to enter college hersef for Bio-Mechanical Engineering, it makes me ponder the power of this one man's inventions.

Thank You Jack.

"Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like force and matter. When they separate, man is no more."
Nikola Tesla

 

[Skogsgurra]

Agree. Completely.

Remember reading about his device (a flip-flop, I think it was) in Radio-Electronics. I couldn't even understand what he had done at that time. And when the national design school here launched a competition where the participants were supposed to design an electronic calculator that could be held IN ONE HAND! I just laughed - everyone knew that it would be impossible.

Times have certainly changed. And Jack Kilby started it. OK, Bardeen, Brattain and Schockley did the foundation work. They also got the Nobel Prize.

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

 

[Timelord]

Hear hear,

Raise a glass to Jack next time you have the chance. What a lot of people don't realize is the he did not gain lots of wealth from his invention, and he was the type to go out of his way to share the credit. He was the one man in the trenches who had that creative spark that started it all. Others got wealth and fame in part because he shared the credit. A truly great man has passed away.

Timelord

 

[rmw]

My first pocket calculator wouldn't fit in any of my pockets, and it took a months salary to buy it.

Since the company would not buy it for me, I got to pick the days I chose to bring it to work with me, and normally left it home when there was a lot of number crunching to do, much to my boss's chagrin.

It had a 10 step programmable function, and I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

Boy, have we come a long way, baby.

RIP, Jack.

rmw

 

[jraef]

An interesting story about him is that he apparently never used an electronic calculator! He continued using his slide rule as long as he worked. He claimed to have invented the calculator as a way of demonstrating the power of his "chips" in practical applications, but in general he thought electronic appliances were a waste of technology. He also never owned a microwave oven, or even a digital watch. He said that an old fashioned analog watch with sweeping hands more accurately depicted the passage of time.

Quite a guy.

 

[IRstuff]

While Kilby was certainly a pioneer, let's not forget that without the advances in oxidation developed by Hitachi and the subsequent seminal publications by Bruce Deal and Andy Grove, silicon ICs would have only been a paper design.

The ability to passive the exposed junction surface eliminated the junction leakage currents that limited performance in bipolar transistors and allowed for the development of MOS transistors.

As with many technological advances, a multitude of unsung heroes slogged through the trenches to develop the state of the art, one brick at a time.

TTFN

 

[jraef]

Yes, but someone had to be the one to show the rest where the bricks are to be found.

Edison's first light bulb filament was a pre-burned piece of string if I recall correctly, and yes, lots of advancements in illumination technology have been brought about by countless brilliant engineers. Still, we revere Edison for his initial accomplishment by giving him credit for having the right idea.

 

[ruggedscot]

It takes one man to lead - to start to hum a tune and then they all follow suit - focus the line of thought and the others will follow. This chap was indeed the catalyst - the one that started the ball rolling and then the others saw the light and worked on the original line of thought.

One man alone cant achieve it all but he can sure as heck point the way forward.

Rugged

 

[VEBill]

I agree with all above, but the word 'unsung' in the thread title might be a just a bit of an overstatement. Most people with an interest in technology will already know his name and his accomplishments. He did have 60 patents and many awards (including the Nobel Prize). And his passing has been reported on many of the major news outlets.

News:

http://news.google.com/news?q=kilby&btnG=Search+News

Although not as well known as Einstein or Edison, Jack Kilby's accomplishments aren't exactly 'unsung' either.

Here are some other related links:

http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/kilbyctr/jackstclair.shtml

http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/kilbyctr/jackbuilt.shtml

http://www.kilby.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kilby

 

[OperaHouse]

A lot of these stories and history are passing without being fully recorded in our technology. One site which is trying to save some of this history is

http://www.transistormuseum.com

This site has many oral histories that you can listen to by the people that created these developments. When you realie that this is all being saved by just a couple people in their spare time, you understand just how fragile this history is. It would seem that an industry that generate billions of dollars could do better.

 

[jraef]

VE1BLL,
My bellweather for using the term "unsung" is my circle of friends and family, none of which are engineers (well, my brother is an ME, but he got rich a long time ago by going into management, so he no longer counts).

Every one of them could identify Edison, Ford, even Eli Whitney (yet they have no idea he did), but none of them even knew there was a "single person" responsible for one of the greatest leaps in the advancement of a technology that has so quickly become integral to our daily lives. In other words, yes his death was noted in some techy circles, but the vast majority of people who take advantage of his accomplishments every day are unaware that he even existed. The same can be said of Nikola Tesla as well, although in my circle I have made a point of educating everyone to the point of nausea about him! Now I guess I'll need to give them something new to ponder.

"Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like force and matter. When they separate, man is no more."
Nikola Tesla

 

[VEBill]

"...his death was noted in some techy circles..."

And in virtually all mainstream media outlets as well.

Just 2 examples (CNN and BBC):

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/06/21/kilby.reut/index.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4118874.stm

Have a look at the list of Honors and Awards listed on this page:

http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/kilbyctr/kilby.shtml

Some extracted highlights:
David Sarnoff Award, IEEE
National Medal of Science
National Inventors' Hall of Fame
Medal of Honor, IEEE
Engineering and Science Hall of Fame
National Medal of Technology
Nobel Prize in Physics

I understand your point and it is perfectly valid. Perhaps if he had played the guitar well then more people in the general public would have heard of him.

But he would have had no reason to complain about lack of recognition. With the added bonus of not being constantly pestered for autographs...

 

[jraef]

With the added bonus of not being constantly pestered for autographs...

Ain't THAT the truth!



OK, you win.

Would that I could edit my thread title. I also have received flak from 2 friends who read this site about my use of the term "hero", because he didn't dive on a hand grenade or pull kids from a burning bus. I don't know, I give up. He was a personal hero to me as a wannabe inventor, and I thought he didn't get the coverage that others get for lesser accomplishments, but I also think he wanted it that way, so that's OK.

I guess I'm still that nerd with the slide rule in his pocket, just dressed better!

 

[pennpoint]

My very small contribution;
Kilby is more of a hero than any basketball player, football player, what ever sports player whatever actor who’s in vogue now. This guy and his ilk changed the world we live in "PERIOD".
My definition of hero is not the most popular person. It’s a person who made a change in the course and events of our lives without our realization.
Anyone that can change the outcome of a game because of their physical prowess, that person, which does that, is an MVP no more no less. Yet we honor them to the pinnacle.
Plaaesse...Gag me.
Who would you parade with the following people?
Edison, Tesla, Kilby, Shockley, Armstrong, Yeager my mind boggles. Who? Tom Cruse, Crowe, De Nero, too many more to list, are mere Flash in the pans; except for Tommy Lee Jones( ). yet our young generation continues to see the athlete and Hollywood Stars as the hero. Too bad they are not challenged to meet the bar, or rise above it.
I really do feel the loss of this man for some reason, maybe that reason is simply that he made my life simpler.
Thank you, Jack St. Clair Kilby.

Best Regards
pennpoint

 

[jsolar]

All,
Nice work and well written.
Thanks for kicking it off jraef