Robert Noyce

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Robert Noyce bigraphy, stories - Co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel

Robert Noyce : biography

December 12, 1927 – June 3, 1990

Robert Norton Noyce (December 12, 1927 – June 3, 1990), nicknamed "the Mayor of Silicon Valley", co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 and Intel Corporation in 1968. He is also credited (along with Jack Kilby) with the invention of the integrated circuit or microchip which fueled the personal computer revolution and gave Silicon Valley its name.Lécuyer, p. 129While Kilby’s invention was six months earlier, neither man rejected the title of co-inventor.

Notes

Biography

Active all his life, Noyce enjoyed reading Hemingway, flying his own airplane, hang gliding, and scuba diving. Noyce believed that microelectronics would continue to advance in complexity and sophistication well beyond its current state, leading to the question of what use society would make of the technology. In his last interview, Noyce was asked what he would do if he were "emperor" of the United States. He said that he would, among other things, "…make sure we are preparing our next generation to flourish in a high-tech age. And that means education of the lowest and the poorest, as well as at the graduate school level."

Early life

Noyce was born on December 12, 1927, in Burlington, Iowa.Jones, 86Jones, 142Berlin, p. 10Burt, 71Welles Gaylord, p. 130 He was the third of four sonsBerlin, p. 10 of the Rev. Ralph Brewster Noyce.Jones, p. 625 His father was a 1915 graduate of Doane College, a 1920 graduate of Oberlin College, and a 1923 graduate of Chicago Theological Seminary. He was also nominated for a Rhodes Scholarship.Berlin, p. 14 The Reverend Noyce was a Congregational clergyman and the associate superintendent of the Iowa Conference of Congregational Churches in the 1930s and 1940s.

His mother, Harriet May Norton, a 1921 graduate of Oberlin College, was the daughter of the Rev. Milton J. Norton, a Congregational clergyman, and Louise Hill. She had dreamed of becoming a missionary prior to her marriage.Berlin, p. 9 She has been described as an intelligent woman with a commanding will.

Despite the religious background of both his parents, Robert Noyce himself was an agnostic.

Bob had three siblings: Donald Sterling Noyce, Gaylord Brewster Noyce and Ralph Harold Noyce.Berlin, p. 10Berlin, p. 12

His earliest childhood memory involved beating his father at ping pong and feeling absolutely shocked when his mother’s reaction to this thrilling news was a distracted "Wasn’t that nice of Daddy to let you win?" Even at the age of five, Noyce was offended by the notion of intentionally losing at anything. "That’s not the game," he sulked to his mother. "If you’re going to play, play to win!"Berlin, p. 12

In the summer of 1940, when he was 12, he built a boy-sized aircraft with his brother, which they used to fly from the roof of the Grinnell College stables. Later he built a radio from scratch and motorized his sled by welding a propeller and an engine from an old washing machine to the back of it.Berlin, p. 7

Education

He grew up in Grinnell, Iowa and attended the local schools. He exhibited a talent for mathematics and science while in high school and took the Grinnell College freshman physics course in his senior year. He graduated from Grinnell High School in 1945 and entered Grinnell College in the fall of that year. He was the star diver on the 1947 Midwest Conference Championship swim team. While at Grinnell College, Noyce sang, played the oboe and acted. In Noyce’s junior year, he got in trouble for stealing a 25 pound pig from the mayor of Grinnell’s farm and roasting it at a school luau. The mayor sent a letter home to Noyce’s parents stating that “In the agricultural state of Iowa, stealing a domestic animal is a felony which carries a minimum penalty of a year in prison and a fine of one thousand dollars.” So essentially, Noyce would have to be expelled from Grinnell College. Grant Gale, Noyce’s physics professor and the President of Grinnell College, did not want to lose a student like Robert who had so much potential. They were able to compromise with the mayor so that the college would compensate him for the pig, Noyce would only be suspended for one semester, and no further charges would be pressed. He returned to Grinnell in February 1949.Berlin, Leslie. "Adrenaline and Gasoline." The Man behind the Microchip: Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. 22-23. Print. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a BA in physics and mathematics from Grinnell College in 1949. He also received a signal honor from his classmates: the Brown Derby Prize, which recognized "the senior man who earned the best grades with the least amount of work".