Noyce Robert N. - The man behind the microchip: Robert Noyce and the invention of Silicon Valley

THE MAN BEHIND THE MICROCHIP

He who lives to see two or three generations is like a man who sits some time in the conjurers booth at a fair, and witnesses the performance twice or thrice in succession. The tricks were meant to be seen only once; and when they are no longer a novelty and cease to deceive, their effect is gone.

Arthur Schopenhauer, On the Sufferings of the World

Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley

LESLIE BERLIN

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Copyright 2005 by Leslie Berlin

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Berlin, Leslie, 1969
The man behind the microchip : Robert Noyce and the invention of Silicon Valley / Leslie Berlin.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-516343-8
ISBN-10: 0-19-516343-5 (alk. paper)
1. Noyce, Robert N., 1927. 2. Electronics engineersUnited StatesBiography.
3. Santa Clara Valley (Santa Clara County, Calif.)History. I. Title.
TK7807.N69B47 2005
621.381092dc22

2004065494

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper

To Rick, Corbin, and Lily
My beloved ones

O ne reason it took me several years to write this book was that before I could even start, I needed to create my own archive. Noyces papers were not collectedhe freely admitted he was very sloppy in record-keepingand many important documents in the history of Silicon Valley have been lost, forgotten, or (I was dismayed to learn) destroyed. In the process of copying or gathering materials from basements and archives around the country, I have been fortunate to encounter more than a hundred people who were willing to share their documents and their memories of Noyce and the early days of the Silicon Valley semiconductor industry. The names of those generous people appear in Appendix A; to each of them, I am endlessly grateful. In addition, I would like to express particular gratitude to the following people who met with me multiple times or shared useful documents with me: Julius Blank, Roger Borovoy, Warren Buffett, Maryles and Mar Dell Casto, Ted Hoff, Paul Hwoschinsky, Steve Jobs, Jean Jones, Jim Lafferty, Jay Last, Christophe Lcuyer, Regis McKenna, Gordon Moore, Adam Noyce, Bill Noyce, Gaylord Noyce, Penny Noyce, Polly Noyce, Ralph Noyce, Karl Pedersen, Evan Ramstad, T. R. Reid, Daniel Seligson, Robert Smith, Charlie Sporck, Bob and Donna Teresi, and Bud Wheelon. Donald Noyce, Robert Noyces older brother, was an amateur historian andthank goodnessan inveterate packrat. Before he died quite unexpectedly in November 2004, he shared his collection of family memorabilia with me, a gift that contributed immeasurably to the early chapters of The Man Behind the Microchip.

Ann Bowers deserves special thanks of her own. This biography has been an entirely independent undertaking, but it would not be the book it is without her support. She sat through many hours of interviews, helped me contact key players in Bob Noyces life, and granted me access to boxes of papers and photosall without imposing any limitations of any kind on my research or writing.

In addition, the following experts merit thanks for their guidance: Polly Armstrong, Maggie Kimball, Henry Lowood, and Christy Smith at the Stanford Special Collections; Tim Dietz and Annie Fitzpatrick at Dietz and Associates; Leslie Gowan Armbruster at the Ford Motor Company archives, Ford Motor Company; Mickey Munley and Catherine Rod at Grinnell College; Daryl Hatano at the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA); Marilyn Redmond at SEMATECH; John Clark at National Semiconductor; and the incomparable Rachel Stewart at the Intel archives and museum. The book also benefited from materials made available to me at the following archives and repositories: the Center for History of Physics, American Institute for Physics; the California History Center, De Anza College; the Electrochemical Society; the Grinnell Room, Stewart Public Library, Grinnell, Iowa; the Hewlett-Packard archives, Hewlett-Packard Corporation; the IEEE History Center Oral History Collection; the Libra Foundation, Portland, Maine; the Institute Archives and Special Collections, MIT Libraries; the MIT University Physics Department; the Pacific Studies Center, Mountain View, California; and the Stanford News Service.

Many thanks to members of the Stanford biographers seminar; to Alex Kline; to two anonymous readers selected by Oxford University Press; to Liz Borgwardt, David Jeffries, and Ron Newburgh, who read early chapter drafts; to Jose Arreola, a friend and physicist who spent more than an hour talking to me about Noyces doctoral dissertation; to David M. Kennedy, whose review of the manuscript did more to improve it than he will ever know; and to Ross Bassett, not only a fantastic reader but also the author of an excellent work of semiconductor history.

My editor at Oxford, Susan Ferber, always asked the right questions and pushed me just as much as I needed. Donald Lamm, my agent, has helped me through every step of this process. My parents, Steve Berlin and Vera Berlin, and my sisters Jessica and Loren have been endlessly inquisitive and supportive.

The Life Members Fellowship in Electrical History from the IEEE and a Franklin Research Grant from the American Philosophical Society supported the research for The Man Behind the Microchip; grants from the Andrew P. Mellon Foundation, the Charles Babbage Institute, and Stanford University funded earlier research for my doctoral dissertation, some of which has been incorporated into this book.

A special thanks to the History Department at Stanford University, where I have worked for the past two years as a visiting scholar in the Program in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology. Two professors in the departmentTim Lenoir and David M. Kennedyhave been thinking with me about Robert Noyce since 1997, when they began advising my dissertation on Noyces career. I have long considered Tim and David mentors and am now honored to count them among my friends, as well.

In addition, I am immensely grateful to the staff of Discovery Childrens House, as well as to two wonderful young womenMichelle Casady and Megan Baldwinwho cared for my children for the hours each week that I devoted to research and writing.

The final thanksand the word seems so inadequategoes to my husband, Rick Dodd, the great love of my life and my partner in every possible way. From tutoring me on the finer points of semiconductor electronics, to running to the copy store, to reading the manuscript at midnight, to making the kids breakfasts the next morning, he did everything possible to ensure that this book had the best chance of success.