Gordon Moore is an American engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded the technology company Intel Corporation. He is the formulator of the so-called Moore's Law, a pioneer visionary from Silicon Valley in the development of semiconductors and microprocessors.
After completing his high school studies in California, Moore became a diligent student with a passion for research. Upon graduating from college, his life took a turn in the professional and business fields. In 1968 he founded the tech giant Intel, along with fellow technology researcher and entrepreneur Robert Noyce.
After working for several specialized laboratories, he decided to start his own company. At Intel he had a career first as vice president and then as president and CEO until 1987, when he retired. He continues to serve as an honorary member of the board of directors and is a prominent research sponsor.
His generous donations to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he received his doctorate, exceed $ 600 million. Additionally, he was a member of its board of trusts from 1994 to 2000.
Moore is one of the richest men in America, with a fortune estimated by Forbes magazine at more than $ 7 billion. He is a member of numerous scientific and academic organizations around the world, and has been honored with various awards and accolades for his contribution to hardware development and technological advancements.
Biography
Gordon Earl Moore was born in the city of San Francisco, in the state of California, United States, on January 3, 1929. He grew up in an average working-class family; his father was the town sheriff and his mother took care of the housework.
Later, when his father was transferred, Moore's family had to move to Redwood City, a town on the San Francisco peninsula. The main commercial activity of the town was fishing.
Information on Gordon's family life, as well as his parents and siblings, is very scarce. According to the available biographical information, in his childhood he was a normal boy, not very outstanding in his studies and rather a lover of sports, so his later success as an engineer was not predictable.
Studies
It was during her final high school years at Sequoia High School that her passion for chemistry and math was born. Motivated by his love of the exact sciences, Gordon began studies at San Jose State University in California.
At that time he met his wife, Betty Irene Whitaker. In 1950 he enrolled at the University of Berkeley (California), from where he graduated with a degree in chemistry. He was then 21 years old.
He continued his specialized studies and in 1954 he obtained a doctorate in Physics and Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Later, the young researcher was hired by Johns Hopkins University in Laurel, Maryland; There he joined the technical team of the Applied Physics Laboratory.
In the technological field there was a lot to do in the 1950s, but not exactly in California. At that time there were no sources of work available; that's why he made the decision to move to Maryland. However, he was still not satisfied with his activity, since he missed practical work.
Gordon did research in Maryland on the physical chemistry of solid rocket propellants that were used by the United States Navy in anti-aircraft missiles.
It did not take long for him to realize that in private industry he could access more interesting research and obtain greater benefits from his work as a researcher.
Then the opportunity arose to work at the Palo Alto, California technology center with the inventor of the transistor, William Shockley. The famed researcher resigned from Bell Labs and founded the Shockley Semiconductor company and, as he was looking for new talent, he hired the young chemist.
Birth of Intel
Gordon was not there long due to Shockley's personality and distrust of his team of collaborators. This caused eight of the researchers, called the Traitorous Eight, to leave the company in 1957 and create their own firm.
The team consisted of Gordon Moore, Robert Noyce, Victor Grinich, Julius Blank, Jay Last, Jean Hoerni, Sheldon Roberts, and Eugene Kleiner. Supported by Fairchild Camera and Instrument and with the monetary contribution of 500 dollars each, they founded Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation, based in Mountain View (California).
Moore and Noyce designed the prototype of an integrated circuit that would fit in a thin layer of silicon, while Jack Kilby had a similar experience at another company.
Both researchers and entrepreneurs wanted to dedicate themselves entirely to researching and manufacturing semiconductors. So in 1968 they parted ways with Fairchild.
Thus was born the company Intel (Integrated Electronics Corporation), whose vice-presidency was initially assumed by Gordon in 1975; years later he was its president and CEO (executive presidency).
Intel released the 4004 microprocessor in 1971. It quickly became the leading company in semiconductor production.
Moore's Law
Semiconductors that got smaller and faster in processing information were inspired by the well-known Moore's law. According to this prediction or empirical law, in general terms electronic technology doubles every year.
The basis of this law was first outlined in an article published in Electronics magazine dated April 19, 1965.
When asked about his predictions for the next decade, Moore predicted that the number of transistors per silicon chip tended to double every year. With the consequent reduction of costs as they became smaller.
He made such a forecast based on previous transistor magnification figures. However, a decade later, when the growth rate began to decline, Moore revised his forecast and extended this phenomenon to two years.
The revision to the law was considered to have been somewhat pessimistic, because for four decades, since 1961, the number of transistors in microprocessors more or less doubled every 18 months. The technology literature and magazines began to refer to Moore's law as an inexorable principle.
Then this axiom was applied to the changes that digital technology has been experiencing in computing, telematics, telephony, robotics and other areas.
In 2007 Moore released a new forecast and determined that this law would cease to be fulfilled in a period of 10 to 15 years, adding that the current technology will be replaced by another.
References
- Moore, Gordon E. Consulted on June 13, 2018 from Forohistorico.coit.es
- The Betty & Gordon Moore Library. Retrieved from moore.libraries.cam.ac.uk
- Gordon Moore. Consulted of forbes.com
- Moore's Law: 50 years unbeatable but with a dubious future. Consulted of abc.es
- Gordon Moore. Consulted from britannica.com
- Gordon Earl Moore, Biographical Synthesis. Consulted of ecured.cu
- Gordon Moore. Consulted of es.wikipedia.org