On 12 September 1958,
Jack Kilby
created a revolution with the world's first integrated circuit
(pictured), which he created while co-workers at Texas Instruments
were on their annual holiday. At the time Kilby said, "The circuit
was a simple design that created a sine wave, built on a slice of
geranium. What we didn't realise then was that the integrated
circuit would reduce the cost of electronic functions by a factor
of a million to one. Nothing had ever done that for anything
before."
Commenting on the 50th anniversary, Gartner vice-president and
distinguished analyst Jim Tully said, "The development of the
integrated circuit (IC) made possible great cost reductions in
electronics. This allowed the technology to spread rapidly through
all areas of society. Found in everything from memories and
microprocessors to mobile phones, TVs, media players, navigation
systems, games consoles, watches, cameras and countless other
items, ICs are so woven into our lives that it would be hard to
imagine a world without them."
Jack Kilby talks about the significance of the integrated circuits
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