Oral history interview with Gordon E. Moore and Jay T. Last
- 2006-Jan-20
Oral history interview with Gordon E. Moore and Jay T. Last
- 2006-Jan-20
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.This oral history with Gordon T. Moore and Jay T. Last focuses on the years 1956 and 1957, during which time Moore and Last worked at Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory and Fairchild Semiconductor was founded. This transcript is about the life of ideas and the people who brought those ideas to fruition; Moore and Last reflect on their experiences during these years while flipping through an old notebook that documented various aspects of the meetings they had over an eighteen month period. In order to fully understand this oral history, the reader must consult the Supplement to Gordon E. Moore and Jay T. Last Oral History, oral history number 0327S, which is also part of the Chemical Heritage Foundation's collection. A copy of the supplement is included with a purchase of this oral history.
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About the Interviewers
David C. Brock is a senior research fellow with the Center for Contemporary History and Policy at the Chemical Heritage Foundation. As a historian of science and technology, he specializes in the history of semiconductor science, technology, and industry; the history of instrumentation; and oral history. Brock has studied the philosophy, sociology, and history of science at Brown University, the University of Edinburgh, and Princeton University.In the policy arena Brock recently published Patterning the World: The Rise of Chemically Amplified Photoresists, a white-paper case study for the Center’s Studies in Materials Innovation. With Hyungsub Choi he is preparing an analysis of semiconductor technology roadmapping, having presented preliminary results at the 2009 meeting of the Industry Studies Association.
Christophe Lécuyer is a graduate of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, and he received a PhD in history from Stanford University. He was a fellow of the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology and has taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and the University of Virginia. Before becoming a senior research fellow at CHF, Lécuyer was the program manager of the electronic materials department. He has published widely on the history of electronics, engineering education, and medical and scientific instruments, and is the author of Making Silicon Valley: Innovation and the Growth of High Tech, 1930–1970 (2005).
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| Oral history number | 0327 |
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Interviewee biographical information
Moore, Gordon E.
| Born |
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|---|---|
| Died |
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Education
| Year | Institution | Degree | Discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | University of California, Berkeley | BS | Chemistry |
| 1954 | California Institute of Technology | PhD | Physical Chemistry and Physics |
Professional Experience
Johns Hopkins University. Applied Physics Laboratory
- 1953 to 1956 Research Chemist, Physical Chemistry
Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory
- 1956 to 1957 Member, Technical Staff
Fairchild (Firm)
- 1957 Founder
- 1957 to 1959 Director of Engineering
- 1959 to 1968 Director of Research and Development
Intel Corporation
- 1968 to 1975 Co-founder and Executive Vice-President
- 1975 to 1979 President and Chief Executive Officer
- 1979 to 1987 Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
- 1987 to 1997 Chairman
- 1997 to 2023 Chairman Emeritus
Honors
| Year(s) | Award |
|---|---|
| 1975 | Distinguished Alumni Award, California Institute of Technology |
| 1978 | Harry Goode Award, American Federation of Information Processing Society |
| 1979 | Frederik Philips Award, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
| 1980 | Computer Society Pioneer Award, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
| 1988 | Founders Award, National Academy of Engineering |
| 1990 | National Medal of Technology |
| 1993 | Medal of Achievement, American Electronics Association |
| 1993 | John Fritz Medal, American Association of Engineering Societies |
| 1996 | Excellence in Achievement, California Alumni Association |
| 1996 | Elected to Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans |
| 1997 | Founders Medal, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
| 1997 | Alumnus of the Year, California Alumni Association |
| 1998 | Fellow Award, Computer History Museum |
| 2000 | D.L. (honorary), Princeton University |
| 2000 | D.Sc. (honorary), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
| 2000 | Lester Center Lifetime Achievement in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Award |
| 2000 | PricewaterhouseCoopers Leadership Award for Lifetime Achievement, The Smithsonian Institution |
| 2001 | Othmer Gold Medal, Chemical Heritage Foundation |
| 2001 | Vollum Leadership Award, Oregon Graduate Institute School of Science and Engineering |
| 2001 | World Technology Awards: IT-Hardware |
| 2001 | Millikan Medal, California Institute of Technology |
| 2002 | Presidential Medal of Freedom |
| 2002 | Order of the Golden Ark, The Netherlands |
| 2002 | 25th Anniversary Lifetime Achievement Award, Semiconductor Industry Association |
| 2002 | Bower Award for Business Leadership, Franklin Institute |
| 2003 | Elected Foreign Member of the Royal Society of Engineering (UK) |
| 2003 | L.H.D. (honorary), Johns Hopkins University |
| 2004 | Perkin Medal, Society of Chemical Industry |
| 2005 | Lifetime Achievement Award, Marconi Foundation at Columbia University |
Last, Jay T.
| Born |
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| Died |
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Education
| Year | Institution | Degree | Discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | University of Rochester | BS | Optics |
| 1956 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | PhD | Physics |
Professional Experience
Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory
- 1956 to 1957 Senior Technical Staff
Fairchild Semiconductor Research and Development Laboratories
- 1957 to 1959 Senior Technical Staff; Co-Founder
- 1959 to 1961 Head of Integrated Circuit Development
Amelco Corporation
- 1961 to 1966 Director, Research and Development; Co-Founder
Teledyne Technologies, Inc.
- 1966 to 1974 Vice President, Research and Development
Sierra Monitor Corporation
- 1980 to 2005 Director
Archaeological Conservancy (U.S.)
- 1980 to 2005 President
Hillcrest Press, Inc.
- 1982 to 2005 President
Think Outside, Inc.
- 1998 to 2005 Member, Board of Directors
Honors
| Year(s) | Award |
|---|---|
| 1999 | Hutchinson Medal, University of Rochester |
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Complete transcript of interview
The published version of the transcript may diverge from the interview audio due to edits to the transcript made by staff of the Center for Oral History, often at the request of the interviewee, during the transcript review process.