Robert Noyce

Robert Norton Noyce (1927 to 1990) was an American physicist and entrepreneur who co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 and Intel Corporation in 1968. Nicknamed the Mayor of Silicon Valley, he was credited with the realization of the first monolithic integrated circuit, or microchip, made with silicon, which fueled the personal computer revolution and gave Silicon Valley its name. Born in Burlington, Iowa, he grew up in Grinnell, Iowa, and attended Grinnell College. President Ronald Reagan awarded him the National Medal of Technology in 1987, he was inducted into the U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1989, and in 1990 he received a Lifetime Achievement Medal alongside Jack Kilby and John Bardeen. He founded the Noyce School of Applied Computing at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.