Jack Kilby

Facts

Jack S. Kilby

Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.

Jack S. Kilby
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2000

Born: 8 November 1923, Jefferson City, MO, USA

Died: 20 June 2005, Dallas, TX, USA

Affiliation at the time of the award: Texas Instruments, Dallas, TX, USA

Prize motivation: “for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit”

Prize share: 1/2

Work

The discovery of the small electronic component, the transistor, created new opportunities to amplify and control electrical signals. New materials were used and transistors gradually became smaller. Independently of one another, in 1959 Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce showed that many transistors, resistors, and capacitors could be grouped on a single board of semiconductor material. The integrated circuit, or microchip, came to be a vital component in computers and other electronic equipment.

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