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What
Others are Saying
Inventing
the Future
One transistor, three resistors and one capacitor. Thirty-nine years
ago this week, Jack Kilby assembled those components together on
one semiconductor. One integrated circuit. The world's first integrated
circuit.
This
combination of both active and passive electronic parts on a single
piece of semiconductor material sparked a revolution. Jack did more
than invent the integrated circuit that day. Jack Kilby invented
the future.
I
confess to being a long-time admirer of Jack but I don't think his
accomplishments can be overstated. Not only is his invention one
of the most significant of our time, it is one of the most significant
of all time.
When
historians measure the impact of inventors, they usually place them
in certain periods of time or ages. Jack's invention was so significant
it spawned an age of its own — the Information Age. No invention
has done more to usher in the Information Age than the integrated
circuit.
In
the span of his lifetime, Jack has seen his creation change the
world. His invention paved the way for increasingly complex, more
reliable and cost effective electronics.
Imagine
what the world would look like today without the integrated circuit.
No
personal computers, no high-speed digital communications networks,
no satellite transmissions. No Internet, no cellular phones, no
TI graphing calculators.
There
would be no on-board computers in cars. No microwave ovens. No synchronized
electronics that automatically wake you up, turn on your coffee
and regulate the thermostat in your homes.
No
voice mail, no pagers, no CAT scans, and no greeting cards that
sing "Happy Birthday" when you open them up. The integrated chip
has become so ubiquitous, that most of us carry some with us wherever
we go.
The
roots of almost every electronic device we take for granted today
can be traced back to that warm September day in Dallas 39 years
ago.
Today,
we are here to celebrate that genius and the legacy of innovation
that Jack helped create at Texas Instruments by dedicating this
new research center in his honor.
This
is no ordinary building it's a dream factory. And this dream factory
will continue to change the world in the same way Jack did a generation
ago. It will be a place where innovators and problem solvers create
new and wonderful technologies. It will be a place for dreamers
— and a place where dreams come to life.
Inventors
in TI labs have produced more than 6,000 patents. The Kilby Center
will be the birthplace of many more.
Today,
engineers work on a TI technology that packs more than 100 million
integrated circuits on a microchip about the same size as the first
integrated circuit Jack built. In a few years, TI engineers will
break the billion mark. One billion circuits on a single chip —
I'm not sure even Jack's imagination could have pictured that 39
years ago.
It
is altogether fitting that the technology that will drive electronics
into the next century is being researched and developed in a building
named for the man who changed the face of electronics in this century.
Jack
has an office in this building. You may have seen it as you came
in. Sometimes when Jack walks down the halls of this building, people,
especially the young engineers, notice him, not fully sure who he
is. They usually take a discrete glance at Jack's ID tag then quickly
elbow a buddy to share the news. You can almost hear them say, "That's
Jack Kilby."
Just
his presence will have an impact. These young engineers feel excitement
when they see Jack. Jack always has been able to elevate the level
of work that goes on around him. He now is doing it with a new generation
of TI scientists and engineers.
These
scientists and engineers are taking the world to the digital age.
And they will do this by continuing the innovation on another invention
TI pioneered — the single-chip digital signal processor or
DSP. DSPs are integrated chips which take real world analog data
and change it into digital signals at an incredible rate of speed.
Faster than any microprocessor.
The
DSP will be the engine to the digital age of electronics. The Internet,
digital phones, digital modems, digital TV are driven by DSPs.
We
consider the DSP to be TI's most significant business opportunity
since Jack's invention of the integrated circuit. This TI technology
will change the shape of electronics once again.
Thanks
to the legacy of innovation Jack helped create, TI has the technology
advantage in DSPs. Our recently introduced C6x sets the technology
standard for the world. No other company can match TI's ability
to design and deliver total DSP Solutions.
We're
already the world leader in DSPs, with a larger market share than
our two closest competitors combined. We plan to aggressively grow
that advantage. TI is spending more than one billion dollars this
year on research and development projects to help make that happen.
That
type of investment ... that type of commitment ... demonstrates
that the legacy and spirit of innovation will continue into the
future.
Research
and development is the lifeblood of any high-tech company. At a
time when the average life cycle for the latest personal computer
is only six months, you must constantly innovate to stay ahead.
Some
of the top research minds in DSP technology work here. They will
share their expertise with leading universities around the world.
They will design cutting-edge solutions for our customers. They
will make us as proud of our future as we are of our past.
Today
marks the beginning of a special year at TI — it's the beginning
of the Year of Invention, where we celebrate TI inventors and all
the breakthrough technologies TI has brought the world.
TI
firsts include the first commercial silicon transistor, the first
single-chip microprocessor, the first single-chip digital signal
processor or DSP, the first single chip speech synthesizer, and
the first electronic hand-held calculator. The celebration will
conclude next September when we commemorate the 40th anniversary
of the invention of the integrated circuit.
It
is difficult to imagine what TI would be like today without Jack.
I'm not sure I want to try too hard to think about it.
How
does someone become an inventor like Jack Kilby? How can you think
what no one else has thought? How can you see what no one else has
seen?
A
young mother once asked Albert Einstein how to raise a child to
become a genius. Einstein smiled and advised her to read the child
fairy tales. And then after that he said, read the child more fairy
tales.
What
an inventor needs most is a curious imagination. Inventors need
to be amazed before they can understand what they see. And then
they must have the imagination to see it in a way no one else has
before.
I
don't know how many fairy tales Jack heard as a child, but he fits
that mold. Jack has summed up his accomplishments by giving credit
to the nature of his work. He said, "If you work on interesting
projects, invention is a natural consequence."
First
he's amazed, then he understands, then he sees what no one else
has.
The
world is a much better place today because Jack Kilby had the capacity
to be amazed. He was able to see something before anyone else. And
because of that, he can look around the world and know that he has
made a difference in our lives.
The
dedication of the Kilby Center is just one small way to thank Jack
for coming to TI and for having the imagination to think what no
others have thought.
Thank
you, Jack. Thank you from all your friends and family at TI. And
thank you for touching all of our lives.
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