Today marks the 50th anniversary of the first silicon integrated circuit patent. We should not have to explain how important the integrated circuit to this crowd, but it is the biggest thing in electronics since sliced bread.
[Robert Noyce] received the landmark patent on April 25th 1961, and went on to found a little known company you might of heard of (along with [Gordon Moore]), Intel Corporation. He was not the first to invent the IC, that privilege goes to [Jack Kilby] of Texas Instruments, though that design was using a germanium wafer. Silicon has many advantages over previous technology and has become the main technology of IC’s even 50 years later fueling the electronics, computer and mobile industries.
Check out the little article above, and also be sure to check out this video on IC construction we posted about a few months ago from the other company [Robert Noyce] help co-found, Fairchild Semiconductor.