Jack S. Kilby
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2000
Born: 8 November 1923, Jefferson City, MO, USA
Died: 20 June 2005, Dallas, TX, USA
Affiliation at the time of the award: Texas Instruments, Dallas, TX, USA
Prize motivation: "for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit."
Prize share: 1/2
The discovery of the small electronic component, the transistor, created new opportunities to amplify and control electrical signals. New materials were used and transistors gradually became smaller. Independently of one another, in 1959 Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce showed that many transistors, resistors, and capacitors could be grouped on a single board of semiconductor material. The integrated circuit, or microchip, came to be a vital component in computers and other electronic equipment.
Their work and discoveries range from how cells adapt to changes in levels of oxygen to our ability to fight global poverty.
See them all presented here.