Vale Jack Kilby: the inventor of the microchip dies

Mr. Kilby and TI officials put the circuit to the test September 12, 1958. It worked, and his invention transformed the industry. In 1960, the company announced the first chips for customer evaluation. Two years later, TI won its first major integrated circuit contract to design and build a family of 22 special circuits for the Minuteman missile. The integrated circuit remains at the heart of all electronics today.

His Work Continues

Mr. Kilby held several engineering management positions at TI between 1960 and 1968, when he was named assistant vice president. In 1970, he became director of engineering and technology for the Components Group before taking a leave of absence to become an independent consultant. Mr. Kilby officially retired from TI in 1983, but he continued to do consulting work with TI. He maintained a significant relationship with the company until his death.

“Jack was one of the true pioneers of the semiconductor industry,” said TI President and Chief Executive Officer Rich Templeton. “Every engineer, myself included, owes no small part of their livelihood to the work Jack Kilby did here at Texas Instruments. We will miss him.”

In addition to his TI career, Mr. Kilby held the rank of Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University from 1978 to 1984. In 1990, he lent his name to The Kilby Awards Foundation, which commemorates “the power of one individual to make a significant impact on society.” Its international awards program honors exceptional individuals for their contributions to society through science, technology, innovation, invention and education.

Mr. Kilby considered himself first and foremost an engineer, a profession he viewed as transforming ideas into practical realities. He held more than 60 patents for a variety of electronics inventions. Among these were the handheld electronic calculator and the thermal printer, both of which he co-invented.

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Mr. Kilby received numerous honors and awards for his contributions to science, technology and the electronics industry. He is one of only 13 Americans to receive both the National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology, the highest technical awards given by the U.S. government. In 1993, he was awarded the Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology. Mr. Kilby also received the first international Charles Stark Draper Prize, the world’s top engineering award, from the National Academy of Engineering in 1989. In addition, he is honored in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s National Inventors Hall of Fame, celebrating individuals whose ideas have changed the world.

Mr. Kilby was the recipient of honorary degrees from several institutions of higher learning including the University of Miami, the Rochester Institute of Technology, the University of Illinois, Southern Methodist University, Texas A&M University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.