Fairchild Semiconductor had become a shadow of its former self, facing severe budget cuts and the loss of key personnel.

All that detail paid off. On April 25, 1961, the patent office awarded the first patent for an integrated circuit to Robert Noyce while Kilby's application was still being analyzed. Today ...

He also invented the integrated chip, one of the stepping stones along the way to the microprocessors in today's computers. Noyce, the son of a preacher, grew up in Grinnell, Iowa. He was a ...