Dr. Robert N. Noyce, along with other members of the “Fairchild Eight,” in 1957 co-founded the Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation. In 1959, as Director of Research and Development, he was co-inventor of the integrated circuit, the starting point of a $60 billion worldwide industry upon which rests an electronics industry 10 times as large. His achievement helped transform the Santa Clara Valley into the world’s center of high technology industry.
Dr. Noyce served as Vice President and General Manager of Fairchild Semiconductor from 1959 to 1965, and then as Group Vice President of Fairchild Camera and Instrument. Under his leadership, Fairchild became the first successful semiconductor company in the Silicon Valley and a training ground for many future electronics entrepreneurs. In 1968, Dr. Noyce co-founded Intel Corporation and served as President, Chairman, and Vice-Chairman. In 1988, he became President and Chief Executive Officer of Sematech, serving until his death in 1990. He also served as a director of Diasonics, Inc., as a trustee of Grinnell College, and as a Regent of the University of California. He was a founder of the Semiconductor Industry Association and helped support key national legislative initiatives which have enhanced our country’s high technology competitiveness. His personal foundation has supported programs which have improved the quality of teaching at the K-12 level.
Dr. Noyce was the recipient of the 1967 Stuart Ballantine Award from the Franklin Institute, the 1978 Cledo Brunetti Award and the Medal of Honor from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE), the 1978 Harry Goode Memorial Award, the 1979 IEEE Faraday Medal, the 1979 National Medal of Science, the 1987 National Medal of Technology, and the 1989 Charles Stark Draper Award for engineering achievement from the National Academy of Engineering. He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Academy of Sciences. He was also elected a Fellow of the IEEE, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and to the National Business Hall of Fame. Dr. Noyce graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1944 from Grinnell College with a Bachelor of Science degree and received a doctorate in physical electronics in 1950 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
