Jack Kilby Inventor essays

Jack Kilby Inventor essays How exactly does one define a Mover and Shaker? That is the question I had to ask myself before I could determine who this essay should be about. For the purposes of this paper I defined a Mover and Shaker as someone who tackled one of the issues of their time; however, I also felt that it was important that they accomplished this solution to an old problem by looking at the situation with a very new and different perspective. On the surface Jack Kilby (pictured to the right) is a very accomplished individual. He owns more than 60 patents, is a Nobel Prize winner, and is even inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame (Texas Institute, par. 8). The real question remains, what did he do and why did he do it? Jack Kilby (along with Robert Noyce) invented the integrated circuit which has lead to the very powerful semi-conductors in our computers today. The rest of this paper will discuss the topic of why he was able to invent something so revolutionary. In his autobiography written for the Nobel Committee, Mr. Kilby discusses some of the significant events in his life. I found it very interesting to note that his father ran an electronics company, thereby giving him an exposure to the world of electronics at a very young age. His fathers goal in his company was to do whatever it took to run his business and to help people (Nobel par. 4). He continues on to tell us that it was amateur radio that really sparked his interest in electronics. While at the University of Illinois he studied electrical engineering, but with his early love for electronics he also dabbled in some vacuum engineering physics classes. While working for a small electronics manufacturer, he continued to work on his studies in the evenings, eventually receiving a Masters Degree in Engineering from the University of Wisconsin. He makes the comment that working and going to school present some challenges, but it c...