Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, prophet of the rise of the PC, dies at 94
By Noel Randewich
https://reurl.cc/DmOZnj REUTERS
March 24 (Reuters) - Intel Corp (INTC.O) co-founder Gordon Moore, a pioneer in
the semiconductor industry whose "Moore's Law" predicted a steady rise in
computing power for decades, died Friday at the age of 94, the company
announced.
Intel and Moore's family philanthropic foundation said he died surrounded by
family at his home in Hawaii.
Co-launching Intel (INTC.O) in 1968, Moore was the rolled-up-sleeves engineer
within a triumvirate of technology luminaries that eventually put "Intel
Inside" processors in more than 80% of the world's personal computers.
In an article he wrote in 1965, Moore observed that, thanks to improvements in
technology, the number of transistors on microchips had roughly doubled every
year since integrated circuits were invented a few years before.
His prediction that the trend would continue became known as "Moore's Law" and
, later amended to every two years, it helped push Intel and rival chipmakers
to aggressively target their research and development resources to make sure
that rule of thumb came true.
"Integrated circuits will lead to such wonders as home computers - or at least
terminals connected to a central computer - automatic controls for
automobiles, and personal portable communications equipment," Moore wrote in
his paper, two decades before the PC revolution and more than 40 years before
Apple launched the iPhone.
Since Moore's article, chips have become more efficient and less expensive at
an exponential rate, helping drive much of the world's technological progress
for half a century and allowing the advent of not just personal computers, but
the internet and Silicon Valley giants like Apple, Facebook and Google.
"It sure is nice to be at the right place at the right time," Moore said in an
interview around 2005. "I was very fortunate to get into the semiconductor
industry in its infancy. And I had an opportunity to grow from the time where
we couldn't make a single silicon transistor to the time where we put 1.7
billion of them on one chip! It's been a phenomenal ride."
Even though he predicted the PC movement, Moore told Forbes magazine that he
did not buy a home computer until the late 1980s.
A San Francisco native, Moore earned a Ph.D. in chemistry and physics in 1954
at the California Institute of Technology.
He went to work at the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory where he met future
Intel cofounder Robert Noyce. Part of the "traitorous eight," they departed in
1957 to launch Fairchild Semiconductor. In 1968, Moore and Noyce left
Fairchild to start the memory chip company soon to be named Intel, an
abbreviation of Integrated Electronics.
Moore and Noyce's first hire was another Fairchild colleague, Andy Grove, who
would lead Intel through much of its explosive growth in the 1980s and 1990s.
Moore described himself to Fortune magazine as an "accidental entrepreneur"
who had no burning urge to start a company but he, Noyce and Grove formed a
powerhouse partnership.
While Noyce had theories about how to solve chip engineering problems, Moore
was the person who rolled up his sleeves and spent countless hours tweaking
transistors and refining Noyce's broad and sometimes ill-defined ideas,
efforts that often paid off. Grove filled out the group as Intel's operations
and management expert.
Moore's obvious talent also inspired other engineers working for him, and,
under his and Noyce's leadership, Intel invented the microprocessors that
would open the way to the personal computer revolution.
He was executive president until 1975 although he and CEO Noyce considered
themselves equals. From 1979 to 1987 Moore was chairman and CEO and he
remained chairman until 1997.
In 2013 Forbes magazine estimated his net worth at $4.1 billion.
Moore was a longtime sport fisherman, pursuing his passion all over the world
and in 2000 he and his wife, Betty, started a foundation that focused on
environmental causes. The foundation, which took on projects such as
protecting the Amazon River basin and salmon streams in the United States,
Canada and Russia, was funded by Moore's donation of some $5 billion in Intel
stock.
He also gave hundreds of millions to his alma mater, the California Institute
of Technology, to keep it at the forefront of technology and science and
backed the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence project, known as SETI.
Moore received a Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, from
President George W. Bush in 2002. He and his wife had two children.
虽然和工作无关，但Gordon Moore过逝的新闻应该可以贴到这里吧？