Editing Jack Kilby (section)

==Career==
Kilby was vital to the [[invention of the integrated circuit]]. In mid-1958, as a newly employed engineer at [[Texas Instruments]] (TI), he did not yet have the right to a summer vacation. Kilby spent the summer working on the problem in circuit design that was commonly called the "[[tyranny of numbers]]", and he finally came to the conclusion that the manufacturing of circuit components ''en masse'' in a single piece of [[semiconductor]] material could provide a solution. On September 12, he presented his findings to company's management, which included [[Mark Shepherd (businessman)|Mark Shepherd]]. He showed them a piece of [[germanium]] with an [[oscilloscope]] attached, pressed a switch, and the [[oscilloscope]] showed a continuous [[sine wave]], proving that his [[integrated circuit]] worked, and thus that he had solved the problem.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Das|first=Saswato R.|date=2008-09-19|title=Opinion: The chip that changed the world |language=en-US| work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/opinion/19iht-eddas.1.16308269.html }}</ref> U.S. Patent 3,138,743 for "Miniaturized Electronic Circuits", the first integrated circuit, was filed on February 6, 1959.<ref name=N00>{{cite web | title = The Nobel Prize in Physics 2000 | publisher = Nobel Foundation | url = http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2000/index.html|access-date=2011-07-14}}</ref> It was notable for having different components (transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, etc.) on one single substrate.{{r|:0|pp=22}} Along with [[Robert Noyce]] (who independently made a similar circuit a few months later), Kilby is generally credited as co-inventor of the integrated circuit.

Jack Kilby went on to pioneer military, industrial, and commercial applications of microchip technology. He headed teams that created the first military system and the first computer incorporating integrated circuits. He invented the handheld calculator (along with [[Jerry Merryman]] and [[James Van Tassel]]<ref>{{cite news |last1=Stengle |first1=Jamie |title=Jerry Merryman, co-inventor of handheld electronic calculator, dies at 86 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/jerry-merryman-co-inventor-of-handheld-electronic-calculator-dies-at-86/2019/03/07/801f910c-413c-11e9-922c-64d6b7840b82_story.html |access-date=8 March 2019 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=7 March 2019}}</ref>).

In 1970, he took a leave of absence from TI to work as an independent inventor. He explored, among other subjects, the use of silicon technology for generating electrical power from sunlight. From 1978 to 1984, he held the position of Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering at [[Texas A&M University]].

In 1983, Kilby retired from Texas Instruments.