Notes from BBC4 programme 'podfather' taken on iPhone.

Bob Noyce. Invented silicon chip. Largest innovation impact. Components on a chip are still doubling every year. He inspired innovation driven west coast work place (like google). One canteen for all staff. Enlightened management. Anyone can challenge anyone. Steve Jobs followed suit.

But Noyce was born in 1927. He grew up in a self-sufficient community. They fixed the things that broke. If they needed something they built
it. EG he built a working glider. Launched himself off a barn roof. It worked.

Transistor replaced electron vacuum tubes. Acts as amplifier of electricity. Transistor is a sandwich of conductive metals (search). Transistors were small, cheap.

Seven years after graduating he moved west. 28 years old. Married. Went to work for co-inventor of transistor. This area became silicon valley. They worked to develop a silicon transistor. Smaller. Cheaper.

The co-inventor (Shockley) was an arrogant arse. A team of scientists, not including Noyce, sought financial backers. Noyce followed soon
after to establish a new company. The first start-up.

Sherman Fairchild backed company. Space race began sparking mass investment in tech.

Fairchild Semi-Conductor established 1957. Noyce forged culture of collaboration. "the essence of a good leader". Everyone on the same
footing to create a vibrant society.

Developed method to make transistors on large sheets. Many at same time. But making a circuit was more difficult. Someone had the idea to
layer transistors with silicon. This led to the ability to print integrated circuits. But Noyce didn't act. 2 months later Texas Instruments produced an integrated circuit. Two companies are jointly credited. Noyce however is credited with being able to mass produce the circuits. But at that time no one had a use for them. The uses seemed limitless but no one wanted them. Manufacturing costs were too high; cheaper to do it by hand. Noyce started selling them at less than production costs. Sold $5 chips for $1. Made many angry but it created the demand for the product. Became the Google of it's day. Demand increased as cost of manufacture decreased. Moores Law started. Doubling capacity every year.

The East coast parent company asserted it's old school ways.

West coast employees started leaving. In 1968, Noyce left too. Start-up called Intel. Massive success. Raised $2.5 million overnight.
They concentrated on memory. Putting memory on the chip increased it's power and applications. Noyce pitched to Honeywells and they bit. He commanded enormous respect. People flocked to Intel to pay homage. Everyone wanted his blessing.

Noyce built his company around innovation and collaboration. Noyce didn't have an office. He had a cubicle like everybody else. Ran it
like a big lab team not a hierarchy.

Most important innovation occurred through encouraging staff to pursue their own ideas. The microprocessor. Any device required several
chips. The microprocessor made this into one chip. Despite objections from customers Noyce ploughed ahead and produced the 4004 chip, the
first mass produced microprocessor. 1973-1977. One of the first electronic calculator. Nearly as big as a typewriter.

Noyce promoted the microprocessor as a general use chip for machinery. Anything with a motor. Putting intelligence inside, called embedded
control.

Noyce did not invent these things. He was their godfather. He brought them to the world.

He was unfaithful. Divorced. Lay off of third of Intels employees following depression caused by oil. Noyce became unhappy. He reconsidered his Intel role. He took on new roles. 1975, remarried. He started to invest in start-ups. He was introduced to Steve Jobs at 22
years old. Co-founder of two year old computer company called Apple. They became good friends. Noyce was a thinker. Noyce mentored Jobs.
Years later Jobs mentored Googles founders.

Noyce went on to flag the competition from Japan. 1980s saw Japan beating USA on price and quality. Intel forced into focussing on
microprocessor rather than memory chips.

1988 Noyce became head of Semetec in Texas aged 60. He new it was vital to rival the Eastern competition. 1990 he stepped down. He
convinced government to take semetec seriously and needed to retire. Noyce died two days afterwards whilst swimming. Heart attack.

Sent from my iPhone
"Do not teach children about computers, use computers to teach them about the world".
Seymour Papert