Jack Kilby - Inventor of the Integrated Circuit Dead at 81

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Jack Kilby, inventor of the integrated circuit, the basis of the computer chip revolution and foundation of what is now a trillion-dollar industry, died of cancer on Monday.

Kilby, 81, made the discovery 47 years ago, when, as a recently hired engineer at Texas Instruments Inc., he was left to work alone in a laboratory while most of his 7,500 colleagues were taking a company-wide summer vacation leave.

A holder of 60 patents who went on to become co-inventor of the first handheld electronic calculator, Kilby worked at Texas Instruments from 1958 until 1970 and continued on as a consultant until 1983. Texas Instruments is now the world’s biggest maker of microchips used in mobile telephones.

Wow!  One man - such a large affect on our every day lives.  Cancer…