Robert Noyce, one of the inventors of the integrated circuit, died recently of a heart attack at age 62. In 1959 he was awarded a patent for his work in connecting a number of transistors on a single silicon chip, the first of the integrated circuits that are now responsible for the $500 billion electronics industry.

Noyce founded Intel, but his influence was also distributed to the political aspects of the industry, and he spent much time in Washington lobbying on behalf of the industry. He helped found the Semiconductor Industry Association in 1975 and served as the president and chief executive of Sematech Inc., a research consortium organized to close the gap between the American and Japanese semiconductor manufacturing industries.

We regret his passing and will miss his influence.

Information from:
Timothy E. Forsyth -- tim@int13.hf.intel.com