Jack Kilby Quotes

• Well, the thought that everybody might have a personal computer at their desk or their home was certainly not on the mainstream of anybody’s activity at that time.

  Jack Kilby

• Well, the big products in electronics in the ’50s were radio and television. The first big computers were just beginning to come in and represented the most logical market for us to work in.

  Jack Kilby

• Well, it’s very dangerous to project, but it’s clear that the existing technology has some more years to go.

  Jack Kilby

• Today, people tend to credit me with having the original idea and made the first circuits.

  Jack Kilby

• This could be done in part, because the equipment was very inexpensive. Not much money was involved in tooling so that basic changes of that type could be accomplished.

  Jack Kilby

• They’re very strong in memory. Didn’t do very much in microprocessors or digital signal processing.

  Jack Kilby

• They were the largest semiconductor maker in the world up until about 1980. I’m not sure that that can be re-gained again, but their progress in the last few years has been very impressive.

  Jack Kilby

• There was a space program before there was integrated circuits.

  Jack Kilby

• The number of parts that were required were just prohibitive.

  Jack Kilby

• The groups that have awarded them are all a little different. It’s a little hard to single out any one for that, but I think the dedication of this building would have to go toward the top of the list.

  Jack Kilby

• The first calculators tended to sell for $400 or $500. Today, you can get a pretty good one for 4 or $5.

  Jack Kilby

• Somewhere in that 20-year period, I would assume that there will be some basically new approach that will begin to cut into it, but it’s got a long time.

  Jack Kilby

• My own interest developed because I thought it was a fascinating subject and something I wanted to pursue.

  Jack Kilby

• It’s true that the original idea was mine, but what you see today is the work of probably tens of thousands of the world’s best engineers, all concentrating on improving the product, reducing the cost, things of that sort.

  Jack Kilby

• It’s also somewhat in the center of a number of things that will be useful to the company.

  Jack Kilby

• It was really a very small company when I started and it changed very rapidly during those first periods.

  Jack Kilby

• I’m sure there will continue to be exciting new products and major changes, but it looks as if the existing technology has a great deal of room to grow and prosper.

  Jack Kilby

• I’m doing a little consulting. I’m somewhat retired, still a director of a company or two.

  Jack Kilby

• I think the varied backgrounds in the beginning were a plus. It took a while for people to understand what they were trying to do and get started, but it did provide for a lot of new ideas.

  Jack Kilby

• I think it’s doing very well. I’m pleased to see the concentration on semiconductors. I think this will help.

  Jack Kilby

Jack Kilby (24)

Birth:	8th November, 1923
Death:	20th June, 2005
Nationality:	American
Profession:	Electrical Engineer, Inventor

About

Jack St. Clair Kilby was born in Jefferson City, Missouri, USA. He was an American electrical engineer and inventor who took part in the realization of the first integrated circuit while working at Texas Instruments in 1958. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics(with Zhores I. Alferov and Herbert Kroemer) in 2000. He is also the inventor of the handheld calculator and the thermal printer, for which he has patents. He also has patents for seven other inventions. He earned a BS degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1947. He obtained his MS degree in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1950.

Related Authors

• Anyaele Sam Chiyson
• Seymoure Cray
• Harold Stephen Black
• Hal Abelson
• John Ambrose Fleming
• Jay Silver
• Bill Joy
• Charles Erwin Wilson
• Robert Metcalfe
• Hannes Alfven

Advertisement

Today's Anniversary - 21st November

Births

• 1952 - Lorna Luft
• 1958 - Rickson Gracie
• 1971 - Michael Strahan
• 1912 - Eleanor Powell
• 1844 - Ada Cambridge

Deaths

• 1969 - Norman Lindsay
• 1996 - Mohammad Abdus Salam
• 1926 - Joseph McKenna
• 2000 - Sir Cyril Astley Clarke
• 1945 - Robert Benchley