A bit of Texas history

You wouldn't be reading this blog today if it weren't for Jack Kilby who died on Monday at his home in Dallas. The Washington Post has a nice write up:

Kilby won the 2000 Nobel Prize in physics for his 1958 invention of the integrated electronic circuit, which made personal computers, satellite navigation systems, cell phones and the $200 billion field of microelectronics possible. He invented the hand-held calculator, which commercialized the microchip, and held more than 60 other patents.

"In my opinion, there are only a handful of people whose works have truly transformed the world and the way we live in it -- Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, the Wright brothers and Jack Kilby," Tom Engibous, chairman of Texas Instruments, where Kilby worked for years, said in a statement. "If there was ever a seminal invention that transformed not only our industry but our world, it was Jack's invention of the first integrated circuit."

And the Dallas Morning News has this to say:

So take a few moments as you go through your day to appreciate the contributions of that guy whose name you probably won't remember a couple of weeks from now: Jack Kilby.

Couldn't have said it better myself.