Jack Kilby

Kilby breathed his last on June 20, 2005 in Dallas, Texas. He was suffering from cancer.

Posthumously, several buildings and institutions have been named after him including The Kilby Center, TI's Research Center for silicon manufacturing, the Jack Kilby Computer Centre at the Merchiston Campus of Edinburgh Napier University and so on.

Jack Kilby was born on November 8, 1923 in Jefferson City, Missouri. His father owned a small electric company, which ignited in young Kilby the passion for electronics.

During World War II, Kilby served in the military as a technician stationed in India. Since an early age, Kilby, much like his father was hooked to radio so much so that he was often called an amateur radio buff.

Academically proficient, Kilby completed his preliminary education from the Great Bend High School. In 1947, he completed his graduation with a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois. Three years later, he completed his Masters’ in the subject from the University of Wisconsin-Extension in Milwaukee.

While studying for his Masters’ in Electrical Engineering, Kilby worked at the Centralab in Milwaukee. An electronic manufacturing company, he was involved in making parts of radio, television and hearing aids.

In 1958, Kilby commenced his career as an engineer at the Texas Instruments. His long-held interest in working on electronic component miniaturization realized with this appointment.

At the time of his appointment, the ‘tyranny of numbers’ was a prevalent problem that the electronic industry was facing while designing circuits. Kilby soon dismissed the universal belief that a micro-module would solve the problem. He instead believed that a semiconductor was the only cost-effective way to provide the solution

Working on his ideas, he combined the isolated electronic components so as to make them work in a miniature environment. This led to the evolution of an integrated circuit, the first miniaturized electronic circuit that revolutionized the way technology was used until then. He filed for a US patent on February 1959. Kilby shares the credit of the invention of integrated circuit along with Robert Noyce, an inventor who too developed another type of the integrated circuit.

Following his big breakthrough, Jack Kilby’s integrated circuit found a place in military, industrial and commercial application. The microchip technology assisted in building the first of both the military system and the computer-incorporated integrated circuit.

Though the invention of integrated circuit was a revolution for the computing world, people were sceptical of its performance and abilities. As such, to put an end to all cynicism, he went on to develop a calculator which would successfully commercialize the integrated circuit. People were amazed by the creation of the pocket device which though miniature in size was as powerful as the electro-mechanical computer.

Kilby’s most important contribution in the field of electronic technology has been as the inventor of integrated circuit. It was while solving the problem of ‘tyranny of numbers’ while at Texas Instruments that Kilby was first struck with the idea of miniaturization of electronic circuits. In September 1958, he finally came up with the design of an integrated circuit. He combined isolated electronic elements to work together in a miniature environment thus leading to his most revolutionary discovery.

Other than discovering the integrated circuit, Kilby is also noted as the inventor of thermal printers and world’s first integrated-circuit based calculator. This pocket sized device was first termed Pocketronic.