Happy B’Day Gordon Moore: One Of The Founding Fathers Of Silicon Valley

Must Read

Gordon Earle Moore co-founded the paramount Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) with Robert Noyce in July 1968, which is worth $190.29 billion, today. He pioneered the technological chronology and developed the ‘Moore’s Law’.

Innovation is the only thing that will keep the company vital. If we stop innovating, it won’t be long before we become the equivalent of the buggy whip industry

Self-claimed ‘accidental entrepreneur’, Gordon Moore is a Ph.D. holder in Chemistry and minor in Physics from the prestigious California Institute of Technology. A mathematics and chemistry enthusiast also attempted his luck on the examination of solid rocket propellants used in the anti-aircraft missiles by the U.S. Navy, but soon switched to the private industry which was an ocean of research. A multi-billionaire pledged to give half his wealth to the noble causes along with Bill Gates and Warren Buffet under ‘The Giving Pledge’ organization.

Birth: January 3, 1929, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Net worth: $10.5 billion

A visionary, an inventor, and a great philanthropist has many untold aspects of his life:

  • The Noble Laureate William Shockley offered him a job in ‘Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory’ where he met Robert Noyce. The interview conducted by Shockley was a bit bizarre in nature; Moore was selected after several Psychological tests while Shockley timed each answer with the stopwatch.
  • Traitorous Eight: Due to the poor quality of management, Noyce and Moore along with six others left Shockley and founded Fairchild Semiconductors in 1957 and were called the ‘traitorous eight’. The company was a success and several inventions including, Integrated Circuits are in its name.
  • Moore’s Law: On April 19, 1965, Gordon Moore, then Director of Research and Development Laboratories at Fairchild Semiconductor, published a 4-page article, titled “Cramming more components onto integrated circuits“. His prediction “With unit cost falling as the number of components per circuit rises, by 1975, the number of components per integrated circuit for minimum cost will be 65,000” known as Moore’s Law. This ground-breaking law still holds true.
  • The birth of ‘Intel’: In July 1968, Noyce and Moore co-founded ‘NM Electronics’, which was later renamed ‘Intel Corporation’. Moore served the company as Executive Vice President until 1975 when he became president. Between April 1979 and 1987, he served himself as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Intel.
  • Intel’s first year revenue were about $2,672, which increased to a whopping $43.62 billion in 2010.
Moore's Law
  • In an interview, Gordon Moore said about the culture of Silicon Valley – “It continues to evolve, but basically it’s still a place to do startups. A few become very successful.
  • A mentor: He has also aided Steve Wozniak, once providing him with ‘1103s (first dynamic RAM)’ for his project.
  • Between 1991 and 1996, he servedGilead Sciences’ as the member of Business Advisory Board, later became the member of the Board of Directors of the Company.
  • In 1993, he became the Chairperson of ‘California Institute of Technology’ (Caltech) and presently he is the life trustee of the Institute. In 1997, he retired as the CEO from Intel.
  • Philanthropy: Apart from signing ‘The Giving Pledge’, Moore and his wife Betty launched their philanthropic foundation in 2000 which has more than $6 billion in assets and makes grants of around $250 million each year for environmental conservation, scientific research, and patient care. Has also funded around $200 million for the development of world’s 2nd largest optical telescope named ‘Thirty Meter Telescope’. In 2015, they pledged a $100 million endowment for graduate fellowships at California Institute of Technology.
  • Awards and recognition: The major awards include ‘National Medal of Technology and Innovation’ in 1990 presented by then-President George H.W. Bush. Was bestowed with ‘Presidential Medal of Freedom’ and the ‘Bower Award’ in 2002. In 2008 received ‘IEEE Medal of Honor’ and later in 2010 received ‘Future Dan David Prize’ for his exceptional work in the field of Telecommunications. He has also become a fellow of ‘Computer History Museum’ (1998) and ‘American Association for the Advancement of Sciences’.
  • Gordon Moore was ranked #66 on Forbes 400 2021, #104 on Forbes 400 2022, and #182 on Forbes Billionaires 2021 List, #214 on Forbes Richest People in the World 2022.

The technology at the leading edge changes so rapidly that you have to keep current after you get out of school. I think probably the most important is having good fundamentals.

The post is a part of a B’day Series where we celebrate the birthday of renowned personalities from the Tech Industry, very frequently. The series includes Entrepreneurs, C-level Executives, innovators, or renewed leaders who moved the industry with their exponential skill set and vision. The intent is to highlight the person’s achievements and touch base the little known, but interesting, part of his life. You can see the list of all earlier celebrated tech personalities, including Mark Zuckerberg, Marissa Mayor, Sean Parker, Andy Rubin, Julian Assange, Sir Richard Branson, Sergey Brin by following this link or subscribe to your daily newsletter.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

- Advertisement -

Latest News

Amazon Makes Historic Bet on AI: $4 Billion Fuels Anthropic’s Generative Engine

AI investments have skyrocketed in the last three years, with tech giants placing their bets on the transformative power...
- Advertisement -

In-Depth: Dprime

The Mad Rush: The Rising Wave of Smartwatches Among Indian Consumers

A few months ago, a 36-year-old named Adam Croft, residing in Flitwick, Bedfordshire, had a startling experience. One evening, he woke up feeling slightly...

PARTNER CONFERENCES

spot_img

More Articles Like This