Without the Integrated Circuit we would not be able to fight over presidential candidates on an arthritis forum. Happy Birthday to the IC!!!!
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/12/162202&from=rss
"Today marks fifty years since the first integrated circuit,
or microchip, was demonstrated by Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments on 12
September 1958. The original chip might not be much to look at, but
then Texas Instruments admits that Kilby often remarked that if he'd
known he'd be showing the first working integrated circuit for the next
40-plus years, he would've 'prettied it up a little.' The integrated
circuit itself was housed in a germanium strip on a glass slide, and it
measured 7/16in by 1/16in. With protruding wires, and just containing a
single transistor, some resistors and a capacitor, it's a primitive
chip by today's standards, but it worked and successfully produced a
sine wave on an oscilloscope screen at the demo. Technology hasn't been
the same since.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/12/162202&from=rss
"Today marks fifty years since the first integrated circuit, or microchip, was demonstrated by Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments on 12 September 1958. The original chip might not be much to look at, but then Texas Instruments admits that Kilby often remarked that if he'd known he'd be showing the first working integrated circuit for the next 40-plus years, he would've 'prettied it up a little.' The integrated circuit itself was housed in a germanium strip on a glass slide, and it measured 7/16in by 1/16in. With protruding wires, and just containing a single transistor, some resistors and a capacitor, it's a primitive chip by today's standards, but it worked and successfully produced a sine wave on an oscilloscope screen at the demo. Technology hasn't been the same since.
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