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Jack Kilby, who was born on November 8, 1923 and died on June 20, 2005, was an inventor who was noted mostly for his work with integrated circuits. The thermal printer and the hand-held calculator are a few of his other inventions.

Overview

Jack Kilby was born in Jefferson City, Missouri, though he spent most of his early life in Great Bend, Kansas. When he was 24 years old, he obtained his degree in Electrical Engineering and then when he was 27, he received his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering. In 1958, he became an employee of the Texas Instrument corporation and made many significant accomplishments while employed. Mr. Kilby worked there until 1983 when he retired. During his life he received the National Medal of Science from the president and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame as well as receiving a Nobel Prize in Physics. ^[1]

Significance

Jack Kilby invented the integrated circuit on February 6, 1959. The integrated circuit (or Miniaturized Electronic Circuits) were made out of a transistor and other components on a slice of germanium. ^[2] It is important because integrated circuits, while far from Jack Kilby's original design, are still much used today. They are in nearly all electronic appliances.