Jack Kilby
An American electrical engineer who, along with Robert Noyce, invented the integrated circuit while working at Texas Instruments.
Most quoted
"I don't recall ever hearing Jack Kilby speak in a way that would be described as 'philosophically deep' or 'existentially profound.' His focus was always on the practical application of technology."
— from Historical accounts and interviews with colleagues
"The integrated circuit was not an invention in the sense of a single 'aha!' moment, but rather the culmination of a lot of hard work and many small steps."
— from Nobel Lecture, 2000
"We were trying to solve the 'tyranny of numbers' problem—the fact that as circuits became more complex, the number of connections became unmanageable."
— from Technical Explanation
All quotes by Jack Kilby (402)
Invention is a combination of hard work and a little bit of luck.
The integrated circuit has proved to be as significant as the printing press.
I was just trying to solve a production problem for the company.
The future of electronics is in integration.
We were trying to solve the 'tyranny of numbers' problem—the fact that as circuits became more complex, the number of connections became unmanageable.
It's not the invention, but what people do with it that matters.
The calculator was the first product to really demonstrate the power of the integrated circuit.
I'm more proud of the team that developed the first commercial integrated circuits than of the initial idea itself.
The semiconductor industry is built on a foundation of continuous innovation.
You have to be in the right place at the right time, and you have to be prepared.
The integrated circuit made it possible to build systems of a complexity that was previously unimaginable.
My original idea was to make all the circuit components from the same block of semiconductor material.
The key was the monolithic idea—everything fabricated in a single piece of material.
I was fortunate that Texas Instruments gave me the freedom to explore.
The cost of an electronic function is essentially the cost of the package and the interconnections, not the semiconductor.
Without the planar process developed by Jean Hoerni and others, the integrated circuit would have been much harder to manufacture.
The microprocessor is simply a more complex integrated circuit.
We are just beginning to explore the potential of microelectronics.
The most exciting applications are the ones we haven't thought of yet.
Good engineering is about finding elegant solutions to difficult problems.
Contemporaries of Jack Kilby
Other Inventions born within 50 years of Jack Kilby (1923–2005).