[Premium-Rx] The late Jack Kilby

[Michael O'Beirne]

Dear Guys

I'd like to thank Greg for mentioning the recent death of Jack Kilby.  For those who did not catch Greg's posting, Jack was the inventor of the integrated circuit, developed when he was with Texas Instruments.  His breakthrough was to use a single block of silicon to contain an entire circuit.  His first one had an area about half a centimetre square and one mm thick.  We have come a long way since.  Today's ICs can accommodate about 100 million transistors within this volume.

The Times in the UK gave him a whole page obituary yesterday, as befits a Nobel Prize winner and someone who singlehandedly transformed the way in which we live.  I well remember the valve age and I continue to be amazed at how complex are modern professional radios.  

Interestingly, Jack's early interest in electronics was sparked by amateur radio via his dad.

In 2000 he was inducted into the US National Inventors Hall of Fame and joined the likes of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers.  He was described as one of the world's greatest inventors.  Yet he received little financial reward, and nor did he benefit much from his many inventions.  He did not have a digital watch, a microwave oven or a pocket calculator. To his death he continued to use a slide rule.  Despite receiving countless awards he remained a modest man whose main interest seems to have been to encourage the young.  A truly great man.  RIP.

73s
Michael O'Beirne
G8MOB
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