I hope a few distributors raised a glass or two to Jack Kilby last Friday; September 12, 1958 was the day Kilby demonstrated the world's first integrated circuit at Texas Instruments.
It was an invention which helped to change the world (along with Bob Noyce's development of the first silicon transistor not long after) and usher in today's world of electronics. Mobile telephones, anti lock braking systems, ultrasound imaging? Without Kilby's invention (see picture) forget it. It is an event well worth celebrating, and TI is doing it in style. It has announced it will build the Jack Kilby Labs on its North Dallas campus as a dedication to the great man. 
Here TI will bring together its very best engineers cheek by jowl with university researchers to develop life changing opportunities for semiconductor technology. According to Rich Templeton, chairman and chief executive officer of Texas Instruments the focus is on inventions which make the world healthier, safer, greener and more fun, and that may be making healthcare more mobile or developing new power sources to enable more fuel efficient cars
Says Templeton,"It is what makes us excited about chip innovation and come to work at TI every day."
Accorded the not inconsiderable honour of heading up the Kilby Labs is Ajith Amerasekera. He certainly has the credentials. He arrives from the post of Chief Technology Officer at TI's application specific IC division, holding the no small matter of 28 issued patents and having authored four books on semiconductor technology.
And as a further gesture TI has made a donation to the memorial statue of Jack Kilby in his home town of Great Bend, Kansas. And if you should be in the Dallas area before October 19, the Museum of Nature and Science has a microchip mini exhibit.
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