He was dubbed ‘The Mayor of Silicon Valley’ after he founded computer processor company Intel and today Robert Noyce is celebrated in traditional Google Doodle style!
Robert “Bob” Noyce was born on December 12th, 1927 and would have been 84 today. In 1957 he co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor the company credited as creating the first commercially practical integrated circuit. 11 years later, he co-founded Intel, a name familiar to most who own a personal computer – thanks to Noyce. This awarded him the title ‘The Mayor of Silicon Valley’. That’s the San Francisco Bay area which is the base for the world’s largest technology corporations and home of the microprocessing silicon chip, which today’s Google nod to Noyce is a visual representation of.
He died in 1990, a year after he was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame, adding to his list of awards a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Patent Act and while still in control of Sematech Inc. – a consortium which works on research into semiconductors. Noyce follows inspirational icons such as guitar hero Les Paul and American novelist Mark Twain in being awarded his latest accolade – today’s Google Doodle.
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