Jack Kilby

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Lore & Background

Jack Kilby was born on November 8, 1923, in Jefferson City, Missouri, and raised in Great Bend, Kansas, where his father ran a small electric company. A huge ice storm that knocked down most telephone and power line poles sparked his interest in electronics when his father's company used amateur radio operators for communication. After serving in the U.S. Army as an electronics technician during World War II, Kilby studied electrical engineering at the University of Illinois, graduating with a B.S. in 1947. He then joined the Centralab Division of Globe Union, Inc., in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and earned an M.S. from Milwaukee State Teachers College in 1950. In mid-1958, as a newly employed engineer at Texas Instruments without summer vacation rights, Kilby spent the summer working on the 'tyranny of numbers' problem in circuit design. He concluded that manufacturing circuit components en masse in a single piece of semiconductor material could provide a solution. On September 12, 1958, he demonstrated a working integrated circuit to management, including Mark Shepherd, using a piece of germanium with an oscilloscope that showed a continuous sine wave. U.S. Patent 3,138,743 for 'Miniaturized electronic circuits' was filed on February 6, 1959. Along with Robert Noyce, who independently made a similar circuit a few months later, Kilby is generally credited as co-inventor of the integrated circuit. Kilby went on to pioneer military, industrial, and commercial applications of microchip technology. He headed teams that created the first military system and the first computer incorporating integrated circuits. He invented the handheld calculator along with Jerry Merryman and James Van Tassel. In 1970, he took a leave of absence from TI to work as an independent inventor, exploring the use of silicon technology for generating electrical power from sunlight. From 1978 to 1984, he held the position of Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University. Kilby retired from Texas Instruments in 1983.

Reader's Guide

Jack Kilby's invention of the integrated circuit in 1958 solved the 'tyranny of numbers' by placing different components—transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors—on a single semiconductor substrate. This breakthrough, independently paralleled by Robert Noyce, laid the foundation for modern microchips. Kilby's subsequent work included heading teams that created the first military system and first computer using integrated circuits, and co-inventing the handheld calculator with Jerry Merryman and James Van Tassel. His legacy is preserved through the Kilby Award Foundation (founded 1980), the IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal (created 1995), and Texas Instruments' Kilby Labs. His personal manuscripts and photograph collection were donated to Southern Methodist University, which hosted a year-long celebration in 2008 for the 50th anniversary of the birth of the digital age. Kilby held an honorary doctorate of science from SMU and was a longtime associate through the Kilby Foundation. A statue of Kilby stands in Texas Instruments Plaza on the campus of The University of Texas at Dallas.

Did You Know?

• Kilby did not have the right to a summer vacation in mid-1958 as a newly employed engineer at Texas Instruments, which led him to spend the summer working on the integrated circuit.
• On September 12, 1958, Kilby demonstrated his working integrated circuit to management by showing a continuous sine wave on an oscilloscope attached to a piece of germanium.
• Kilby co-invented the handheld calculator along with Jerry Merryman and James Van Tassel.
• From 1978 to 1984, Kilby served as Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University.
• Kilby's personal manuscripts and photograph collection were donated to Southern Methodist University and are stored at DeGolyer Library.