Jack S. Kilby and Robert N. Noyce

"For their independent development of the monolithic integrated circuit."

Jack S. Kilby and Robert N. Noyce received the first Charles Stark Draper Prize for their independent co-invention of the monolithic (meaning formed from a single crystal) integrated circuit, better known as the semiconductor microchip. They were honored as well for their separate work in bringing the integrated circuit into successful commercial production and application in commercial products.

Thirty years after the integrated circuit was developed by Kilby and Noyce, it is an essential component in items ranging from consumer goods to manufacturing equipment to medical imaging devices (such as the CAT scan) to automated bank tellers. Their revolutionary engineering achievement has given birth to an entire industry and made possible a multitude of everyday products, including handheld calculators, digital watches, automatic cameras, videocassette recorders, compact discs, and facsimile machines.