Photos: Integrated circuit celebrates 50th birthday
Innovators Gordon Moore and Jay Last address the crowd at the Computer History Museum during a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the integrated circuit.
John Hollar, CEO of the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., welcomes an audience of hundreds Friday at the end of a weeklong celebration of the 50th anniversary of the integrated circuit. Today, the IC powers everything from the pocket-size iPhone to Google's giant server farms.
Gordon Moore's contributions to research and development, and his co-founding of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel, led to some of the computer industry's most important computer chip innovations. Here, Moore speaks with reporters before appearing onstage Friday at the Computer History Museum.
Pioneers like Moore (pictured) and engineers who worked on microcircuitry in the late '50s were honored this week during celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the integrated circuit.
Moore (left) and Jay Last were two of the eight men who became known as the "Traitoruous Eight" after leaving Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory to form Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957. Fairchild became "the Google of its day," according to Leslie Berlin, Silicon Valley archivist for Stanford University.
Moore's and Last's patent and engineering notebooks are on display at the Computer History Museum.
The so-called Traitoruous Eight, seen in an image from Friday's presentation, included Julius Blank, Victor Grinich, Jean Hoerni, Eugene Kleiner, Jay Last, Gordon Moore, Robert Noyce, and Sheldon Roberts. The group got that moniker after leaving Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory to form Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957.
Pictured is the Fairchild 2N1613, which came out in 1960 and was the first commercial planar transistor.
The Computer History Museum has notebooks of Jean Hoerni and Robert Noyce on display as part of its collection.
After Fairchild developed the NPN mesa transistor, which had major reliability problems, Hoerni developed the first planar transistor in March 1959, and then engineered a stable planar manufacturing process.
Jack Kilby's notebooks--on display at the Computer History Museum--contained research notes collected while developing the integrated circuit. In 2000, Kilby was a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics.
More Galleries
My Favorite Shots From the Galaxy S24 Ultra's Camera
My Favorite Shots From the Galaxy S24 Ultra's Camera
20 Photos
Honor's Magic V2 Foldable Is Lighter Than Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra
Honor's Magic V2 Foldable Is Lighter Than Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra
10 Photos
The Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus Looks Sweet in Aluminum
The Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus Looks Sweet in Aluminum
23 Photos
Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra Now Has a Titanium Design
Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra Now Has a Titanium Design
23 Photos
I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites
I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites
34 Photos
17 Hidden iOS 17 Features You Should Definitely Know About
17 Hidden iOS 17 Features You Should Definitely Know About
18 Photos
AI or Not AI: Can You Spot the Real Photos?