'Mayor of Silicon Valley' Robert Noyce gets Google doodle

Robert Norton Noyce, or Bob as he was known, has been honoured with a Google doodle on what would've been his 84th birthday. And it seems very fitting, considering his tech achievements. Noyce co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957, and then Intel in 1968.

His partner in founding Intel was Gordon Moore, and Noyce initially wanted to call the company Moore Noyce, but decided otherwise because he thought it'd sound like "more noise".

Noyce was the engineer credited (along with Jack Kilby) as inventing the integrated chip, which paved the way for the microchips that power today's computers and devices.

He's responsible for kickstarting the computer revolution, giving Silicon Valley its name, as well as being the original tech entrepreneur. He and Moore cultivated a relaxed working culture at Intel, shunning luxuries -- an example followed by Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

Born in 1927 in Burlington, Iowa, he was inventing from a young age, making a radio from what he found lying around at home, as well as adding motors to his sledge. Noyce attended the Mecca of technology, MIT, and a few years after graduating founded Fairchild Semiconductor. He filed a patent for a 'Semiconductor Device and Lead Structure' in 1959. 

He was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 1987 by Ronald Reagan, and two years later George Bush inducted him to the Business Hall of Fame. In 1990, shortly before his death, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award during the bicentennial celebration of the Patent Act.

Other accolades include the IEEE Medal of Honor, the National Medal of Science, and being elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. And now this Google doodle, of course.

This year's tech-related doodles have included Robert Bunsen, steam pioneer Richard Trevithick and sci-fi genius Stanislaw Lem. Bing recently got in on the act with its own animated home page.