Robert Noyce – Awards and Honours

Robert Norton Noyce (1927-90) is an American engineer, inventor, entrepreneur who was born in Burlington, Iowa. Noyce attended Grinnell College for his tertiary education and in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for his doctorate degree in physics in 1953. He worked with William Shockley early in his career on a special type of transistor.

Noyce and other engineers left their employer in 1957 in order to create their own company, the Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation, where he developed the microchip or integrated circuit in 1959. And in 1969, Noyce along with his two Fairchild Semiconductor colleagues, Gordon E. Moore and Andrew Grove founded Intel Corporation. Noyce is the chief executive officer (CEO) and the president of the company which he co-founded with his Fairchild colleagues. In this company, Noyce was instrumental for the very first microprocessor and other microchips’ development.

Robert Noyce has filed for United States Patent 2,981,877 Semiconductor Device and Lead Structure which is a kind of microchip in July 1959. This is independent effort of Noyce was only recorded after few months when the finding of Jack Kilby was released. During the time when he co-invented the integrated circuit that revolutionized technology, three Presidents of the United States have honored him.

Aside from the honors that the three Presidents of the United States had given to Noyce, he also received several awards and honors from other governing bodies and people of influence. In 1987, The National Medal of Technology was awarded to him by United States President Ronald Reagan. Two years after he received the award from President Reagan, Noyce was inducted to the Business Hall of Fame which is sponsored by Junior Achievement, which happened on a black tie ceremony which was keynoted by former U.S. President George H. W. Bush.

In 1990, Robert Noyce along with other awardees which include John Bardeen, the inventor of the transistor and Jack Kilby has received the Lifetime Achievement Medal during Patent Act’s 200^th year celebration.

In 1966 Robert Noyce received the Stuart Ballantine Medal from the Franklin’s Institute. The Medal of Honor from the IEEE was also awarded to him in 1978 for his great contributions to the development of the Silicon Integrated Circuit which is the vital element in modern electronics.

The National Medal of Science was awarded to Robert Noyce in 1979. He was also elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1980. The Charles Stark Draper Prize was awarded to him in 1989 by the National Academy of Engineering.

In honor for his great achievement in the field of electronics, his alma mater, Grinnell College has named its science building after his him. Noyce was also honored with a Google Doodle on December 12, 2011 for the celebration of his 84^th birthday.

It is no doubt that Robert Norton Noyce is one of the best inventors that has ever lived. He has contributed a lot to the technological revolution that allows people in this modern society to enjoy the benefits. Great testaments to his greatness are the awards that he had received.