Biography of Robert Noyce 1927 - 1990

Robert Noyce is credited as being the co-inventor of the integrated circuit aka the microchip along with Jack Kilby. A computer industry pioneer, Robert Noyce was the co-founder of both the Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation (1957) and Intel (1968).

It was at Fairchild Semiconductor, where he was the General Manager, that Robert Noyce invented the microchip for which he received patent #2,981,877.

At Intel, Robert Noyce managed and oversaw the group of inventors that invented the revolutionary microprocessor.

Robert Noyce was born on December 12, 1927, in Burlington, Iowa. He died on June 3, 1990, in Austin, Texas.

In 1949, Noyce received his B.A. from Grinnell College in Iowa. In 1953, he received his Ph.D. in physical electronics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Robert Noyce worked as a researcher for Philco Corporation until 1956, when Noyce started working for the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Palo Alto, California, making transistors.

In 1957, Robert Noyce co-founded the Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation. In 1968, Noyce co-founded the Intel Corporation with Gordon Moore.

Robert Noyce was the co-recipient of the Stuart Ballantine Medal from the Franklin Institute for his development of integrated circuits. In 1978, he was a co-recipient of the Cledo Brunetti Award for the integrated circuit. In 1978, he received the IEEE Medal of Honor.

In his honor, the IEEE established the Robert N. Noyce Medal for exceptional contributions to the microelectronics industry.

According to his IEEE biography, "Robert Noyce holds 16 patents on semiconductor methods, devices, and structures, including applications of photoengraving to semiconductors, and diffused- junction isolation for IC's. He also holds the basic patent relating to metal interconnect schemes."