Barely fifty years ago a computer was a gargantuan, vastly expensive thing that only a handful of scientists had ever seen. The world’s brightest engineers were stymied in their quest to make these machines small and affordable until the solution finally came from two ingenious young Americans. Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce hit upon the stunning discovery that would make possible the silicon … microchip, a work that would ultimately earn Kilby the Nobel Prize for physics in 2000. In this completely revised and updated edition of The Chip, T.R. Reid tells the gripping adventure story of their invention and of its growth into a global information industry. This is the story of how the digital age began.
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The Chip is an excellent book, full of little known information about some of the most crucial inventions, e.g., penicillin, the double helix, and semiconductors and the most remarkable technology ever, the integrated circuit! A great read indeed. I loved it!
This gave me perspective on events and thinking that I was not aware of, even though I lived during these times. The insights help me understand how things have changed since the book was published in 1985 and where we may we’ll go.
This is the telling of the most essential true story of the 20th Century that will go down in history and myth for thousands of years like Homer’s epics. There have been hundreds of books written about Einstein, Bohr, Meitner, and Feynman who established the science of the transistor, but the giants who invented modern integrated electronics and created Moore’s Law have been unsung.
Reasonably well researched and reasonably well written, this is not yet definitive. For example, the author missed a glitch in the Moore’s Law curve in 1985 that was fixed by Anatel Instruments and Particle Measuring Systems. That should not stop you from getting a copy for you, your children and all your descendants, because it is also the story of how rampant cooperation in technology benefits everybody – and makes more money – than debunked Darwinist Capitalism theories and patent walls.
The Chip was co-invented by two very different engineers in very different corporations, but they cross-licensed their pieces of the puzzle and created the most explosive product boom and the biggest boon to humankind in history. This one invention is more critical to our survival than fire, spears and grain cultivation because electronic information processing can produce a sustainable world – and all the other underpinnings of civilization are NOT sustainable.
A wonderful history, taking names and naming events………………………
So often the “real” folks who invent technology are never realized by our citizens.
For anyone who appreciates the importance of computers in our lives, this is a must read. The author lays a great foundation, with Babbage and Boolean logic and explains the huge contributions of the folks from Intel and TI. It was very informative and enjoyable.
Made a complex subject understandable and interesting. Very good job developing the personalities of the two key players in this monumental development. Highly recommend the book.
Great history from the invention of the transistor to how the first integrated circuits were made to present technology. I couldn’t put it down
The author took a very complicated subject and explained it in simple, understandable terms.
What I liked best were the explanations of the technical details in easy to understand form for the trained in the sciences types like me. The second thing is it accurately traces the history which reminded me of one comment on another book claiming it was false because it referred to TV watching during WWII. Turns out the first cathode ray tube systems stem from the 1920’s and were un the market in the early 1940’s.