AOL Web Search

Robert Noyce, in full Robert Norton Noyce, (born December 12, 1927, Burlington, Iowa, U.S.—died June 3, 1990, Austin, Texas), American engineer and coinventor of the integrated circuit, a system of interconnected transistors on a single silicon microchip.

Robert Noyce was an American scientist, businessman, and engineer. He helped to create the world’s first microchip, the Monolithic Integrated Circuit , and then used his business expertise to found two massively influential technology companies: Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel Corporation.

Robert Noyce, 1968, Intel co-founder For most of its first year the company focused exclusively on research and development, wanting to develop technologies no one else offered. At the time, Moore described the full facility as “larger than we need.”

Technologist, Entrepreneur, and Industry Leader As a technologist, Bob Noyce was the co-inventor of the integrated circuit and held numerous patents. As an entrepreneur, he was a co-founder of both Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel Corporation.

Learn about Robert Noyce, inventor of the first practical microchip and co-founder of Intel, with a biography and collection of historical stills.

Robert Noyce, (born Dec. 12, 1927, Burlington, Iowa, U.S.—died June 3, 1990, Austin, Texas), U.S. engineer. He received a Ph.D. from MIT. In 1957 he launched Fairchild Semiconductor, one of the first electronics firms in what came to be called Silicon Valley.

Robert Norton Noyce (12 December 1927 – 3 June, 1990), nicknamed “the Mayor of Silicon Valley,” co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 and Intel in 1968. He is also credited (along with Jack Kilby) with the invention of the integrated circuit or microchip.

Robert Noyce helped create the first integrated circuit, the forerunner of the microprocessor. Noyce also co-founded two companies that helped usher in the era of Silicon Valley—Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel. As a child growing up in Iowa, Noyce showed an early interest in tinkering and figuring out how things work.