The integrated circuit turns 50
Friday night in Mountain View, CA hundreds of people gathered at the Computer History Museum to honor the birthday of the integrated circuit, an event which has transformed society.
The birthday party was for the IC itself, for the men that attended its birth, and for the changes that it has made in our society during the last fifty years. The evening was opened by museum CEO John Hollar, speaking about the impact of the integrated circuit. Hollar said, “It became the electronics technology through which we have created our contemporary digital world. It is indispensable to modern life.”
Two of the most famous survivors of the eight men that brought us the IC were at the affair. Gordon Moore and Jay Last were honored by 400 friends, former colleagues, and admirers, according to an article by CNET. Moore and Last were celebrated for their roles in creating the integrated circuit. That invention made possible everything from the tiny iPhone to the largest computer installations.
Moore and Last, who are both 80 years of age, were part of a group of eight who left Shockley Semiconductor to strike out on their own. They became the founders of Fairchild Semiconductor, where the integrated circuit was born. The contributions of Jean Hoerni and Robert Noyce, both deceased, were also recounted by Leslie Berlin, Silicon Valley archivist for Stanford University, and historian and author Christophe Lecuyer.
Both Moore and Last spoke at the event, as they have been doing at similar event for many years. Both have become entertaining speakers on the subject. Moore’s remarks included the sentence, “It was a nice addition to the product line, but it wasn’t completely clear it was going to be revolutionary.” Last’s speech included the understatement, “It’s hard to believe that 50 years have passed. The reality of today is beyond our wildest imaginations of those days.”
It is hard to reckon the societal changes that have been driven by the integrated circuit. How different would our world be today without the personal computer, the cell phone, the digital camera, the Internet, and all of the other things made possible by those tiny bits of specially arranged silicon? Whether or not you approve of the changes made possible by the IC, there is no arguing its impact on the everyday lives of billions.
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