Integrated Circuit

The world's best patented invention is the Integrated Circuit. Jack Kilby filed the first patent for an Integrated Circuit on the 6th of February 1959. Up to this date tiny transistors were being soldered together in greater numbers to produce electronic devices. As these devices got larger they became less reliable. Jack Kilby hit on the idea of building an electrical circuit out of one substance and decided to use germanium.

At first few people saw the potential of the eventual silicon chip until the U.S. Air Force started using them to control their computers. Soon after, the first calculator controlled by an Integrate Circuit was launched and the world changed for ever.

This device has allowed the invention of all the devices that now make our world work. They help critically ill people stay alive. Without this invention we would have no personal computers, mobile phones, flat screen T.V.s or any of the thousands of devices we now see as indispensable to modern living. Computers help educate children the world over and allow businesses to run efficiently. Telecommunications keeps the people of the world glued together. The internet has allowed the spread of information on a vast scale. All these intentions and more would be impossible without the Integrated Circuit. It has revolutionized our world and will continue to do so for decades to come.

Submitted by: Paul Coker