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)
The integrated circuit is a tool, and like any tool, its value is determined by how it is used.
I never expected to win a Nobel Prize for something I did at work.
The path from invention to widespread use is often long and winding.
The military was an early and important customer for integrated circuits.
Miniaturization was a goal, but reliability and cost were the driving forces.
The first integrated circuit was crude, but it proved the concept.
Innovation requires both vision and persistence.
The world has changed more because of the integrated circuit than because of any other invention in my lifetime.
I am an engineer, not a businessman. I was always more interested in making things work.
The real credit goes to the thousands of engineers who took the idea and ran with it.
Silicon is the most important material of the information age.
The challenge was not just to make one, but to make millions reliably and cheaply.
Every new technology creates new opportunities and new challenges.
The integrated circuit is the ultimate embodiment of the idea that 'less is more.'
My father was an electrical engineer, and he encouraged my curiosity.
The best ideas often seem obvious in hindsight.
The pace of change in electronics is dictated by the pace of integration.
We have moved from an era of hardware to an era of software, enabled by the integrated circuit.
The calculator chip showed that we could put a complete system on a chip.
The goal was never just to make things smaller, but to make them better and more affordable.
Contemporaries of Jack Kilby
Other Inventions born within 50 years of Jack Kilby (1923–2005).