4 ms·

The Tinkerings of Robert Noyce (1983)

60 points by troydavis 8y ago

janvdberg 8y ago
If you like this, may I suggest Walter Isaacson's The Innovators. It's an excellent book, Noyce (and Shockley) are prominently featured.
beautifulfreak 8y ago
The PBS American Experience episode, "Silicon Valley," is an excellent retelling of the Noyce-Fairchild-Intel story, well worth watching. The full episode doesn't appear to be online anymore, but here are the first 16 minutes: https://www.pbs.org/video/american-experience-silicon-valley-chapter-1/ https://www.pbs.org/video/american-experience-silicon-valley...
- indigodaddy 8y ago
  Yep, saw this when it first aired, and it remains one of the most enjoyable viewing experiences I've ever had. EDIT: The full episode is available on Amazon Prime for anyone who is interested.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
rwmj 8y ago
This is in general a great BBC documentary from 1978, well worth watching in full. It might be the only time Intel permitted cameras to record the production process of silicon chips? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW5Fvk8FNOQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW5Fvk8FNOQ Anyway it features Robert Noyce at around 9 mins 20 secs in. Edit: Thanks guiambros for pointing out the stupid region restriction. This link should work for people outside the UK: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x64ng4h https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x64ng4h
- guiambros 8y ago
  Uh? "This video contains content from Crowley Media, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds." Anyone having the same problem? (I'm in NY) EDIT: ok, I got it. This is from BBC, so likely only available in the UK. I found a copy on their site [1], and the player is more explicit - "BBC iPlayer only works in the UK. Sorry, it’s due to rights issues." Need to watch through VPN... EDIT 2: Here's one that works [2], without VPN. [1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01z4rrj/horizon-19771978-now-the-chips-are-down https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01z4rrj/horizon-19771... [2] https://archive.org/details/BBCHorizon19771978NowTheChipsAreDown https://archive.org/details/BBCHorizon19771978NowTheChipsAre...
  - doh 8y ago
    Actually, it's being blocked in these countries 'MX','GY','CL','BO','VE','PY','EC','CO','US','CA','UY','BR','PE','GF','AR' No idea why those, but that's their policy in YouTube
- zokier 8y ago
  Those tech demos at the beginning (text to speech and voice control) feel funny considering that we are still tackling and demoing basically the same things. Sure, something like Google Duplex is slightly more advanced, but the concept of having computer communicate with voice (on both ways) seem to have been fascinating people since the beginnings of computing. There are also parallels to be drawn between self-driving cars and that computer controlled wheel-chair. Plus ça change edit: oh wow, more of the same: > Such chips will totally revolutionarize our way of life, they are the reason why Japan is abandoning its ship building, and why our children will grow up without jobs to go to
  - zokier 8y ago
    They are playing the "robots are stealing our jobs" line very heavily in the video. Insightful viewing for modern audience to gain perspective for current discussions.
    - 8y ago
gtycomb 8y ago
I am surprised that there are so few hacker comments here. The story sends me the goosebumps and its a keeper -- Grinnell College in Iowa where the Silicon Valley revolution really began, what really made landing on the moon possible, and this Robert Noyce quote in Wiki: In his last interview, Noyce was asked what he would do if he were "emperor" of the United States. He said that he would, among other things, "…make sure we are preparing our next generation to flourish in a high-tech age. And that means education of the lowest and the poorest, as well as at the graduate school level."
- waynecochran 8y ago
  Fascinating story. I was initially compelled to read it since I will soon be working in the "Robert Noyce" building, and now I know why the CEO has a cubicle like everyone else.
- dang 8y ago
  Few comments on the many previous submissions too: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=The%20Tinkerings%20of%20Robert%20Noyce&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix&page=0 https://hn.algolia.com/?query=The%20Tinkerings%20of%20Robert.... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8133479 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8133479 has a few, and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14650795 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14650795 has a good one.
  - troydavis 8y ago
    Good catch - sorry for the dupe. I searched before submitting but only searched for the URL, not the title, so I only found submissions with no votes or discussion.
    - dang 8y ago
      It's not a dupe because it hasn't had a significant discussion in the last year—or in any year! This is in the FAQ: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html.
- 8y ago
temp_accounter 8y ago
A few interesting takeaways from skimming the article: * Shockley was ahead of his time with peer-ranking and transparent salaries * Ageism and zero work-life balance has been a feature of the Silicon Valley landscape since its inception * In the 1950's, the reference point for what a youthful, technically innovative, highly entrepreneurial industry would look like was the automobile industry - which would not at all be obvious to a modern reader who didn't know the early history of automobiles (I know the piece was written in the 80's, but for that part Wolfe is taking the perspective of someone in the burgeoning Silicon Valley of the 50's-60s)
davis 8y ago
Interestingly, Robert Noyce thought this article was a bit of a tall tale by Tom Wolfe. Here's a quote by him from 1984: > It's interesting to me to see what an enormous amount of publicity the microchip has gotten recently including that article of Tom Wolfe's. Incidentally, on that article of Tom Wolfe's, I do want to point out that Tom Wolfe is first of all a novelist. And only secondarily is he a historian but everything that appears in print of course is true as you've all learned. Particularly if you ever read something that you know something about. Source: https://youtu.be/AfxUq_QrpyY?t=2m20s https://youtu.be/AfxUq_QrpyY?t=2m20s

60 points by troydavis 8y ago

If you like this, may I suggest Walter Isaacson's The Innovators. It's an excellent book, Noyce (and Shockley) are prominently featured.

beautifulfreak 8y ago

The PBS American Experience episode, "Silicon Valley," is an excellent retelling of the Noyce-Fairchild-Intel story, well worth watching. The full episode doesn't appear to be online anymore, but here are the first 16 minutes: https://www.pbs.org/video/american-experience-silicon-valley-chapter-1/ https://www.pbs.org/video/american-experience-silicon-valley...

indigodaddy 8y ago
Yep, saw this when it first aired, and it remains one of the most enjoyable viewing experiences I've ever had. EDIT: The full episode is available on Amazon Prime for anyone who is interested.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

rwmj 8y ago

This is in general a great BBC documentary from 1978, well worth watching in full. It might be the only time Intel permitted cameras to record the production process of silicon chips? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW5Fvk8FNOQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW5Fvk8FNOQ Anyway it features Robert Noyce at around 9 mins 20 secs in. Edit: Thanks guiambros for pointing out the stupid region restriction. This link should work for people outside the UK: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x64ng4h https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x64ng4h

guiambros 8y ago
Uh? "This video contains content from Crowley Media, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds." Anyone having the same problem? (I'm in NY) EDIT: ok, I got it. This is from BBC, so likely only available in the UK. I found a copy on their site [1], and the player is more explicit - "BBC iPlayer only works in the UK. Sorry, it’s due to rights issues." Need to watch through VPN... EDIT 2: Here's one that works [2], without VPN. [1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01z4rrj/horizon-19771978-now-the-chips-are-down https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01z4rrj/horizon-19771... [2] https://archive.org/details/BBCHorizon19771978NowTheChipsAreDown https://archive.org/details/BBCHorizon19771978NowTheChipsAre...
- doh 8y ago
  Actually, it's being blocked in these countries 'MX','GY','CL','BO','VE','PY','EC','CO','US','CA','UY','BR','PE','GF','AR' No idea why those, but that's their policy in YouTube
zokier 8y ago
Those tech demos at the beginning (text to speech and voice control) feel funny considering that we are still tackling and demoing basically the same things. Sure, something like Google Duplex is slightly more advanced, but the concept of having computer communicate with voice (on both ways) seem to have been fascinating people since the beginnings of computing. There are also parallels to be drawn between self-driving cars and that computer controlled wheel-chair. Plus ça change edit: oh wow, more of the same: > Such chips will totally revolutionarize our way of life, they are the reason why Japan is abandoning its ship building, and why our children will grow up without jobs to go to
- zokier 8y ago
  They are playing the "robots are stealing our jobs" line very heavily in the video. Insightful viewing for modern audience to gain perspective for current discussions.
  - 8y ago

gtycomb 8y ago

I am surprised that there are so few hacker comments here. The story sends me the goosebumps and its a keeper -- Grinnell College in Iowa where the Silicon Valley revolution really began, what really made landing on the moon possible, and this Robert Noyce quote in Wiki: In his last interview, Noyce was asked what he would do if he were "emperor" of the United States. He said that he would, among other things, "…make sure we are preparing our next generation to flourish in a high-tech age. And that means education of the lowest and the poorest, as well as at the graduate school level."

waynecochran 8y ago
Fascinating story. I was initially compelled to read it since I will soon be working in the "Robert Noyce" building, and now I know why the CEO has a cubicle like everyone else.
dang 8y ago
Few comments on the many previous submissions too: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=The%20Tinkerings%20of%20Robert%20Noyce&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix&page=0 https://hn.algolia.com/?query=The%20Tinkerings%20of%20Robert.... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8133479 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8133479 has a few, and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14650795 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14650795 has a good one.
- troydavis 8y ago
  Good catch - sorry for the dupe. I searched before submitting but only searched for the URL, not the title, so I only found submissions with no votes or discussion.
  - dang 8y ago
    It's not a dupe because it hasn't had a significant discussion in the last year—or in any year! This is in the FAQ: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html.
8y ago

temp_accounter 8y ago

A few interesting takeaways from skimming the article: * Shockley was ahead of his time with peer-ranking and transparent salaries * Ageism and zero work-life balance has been a feature of the Silicon Valley landscape since its inception * In the 1950's, the reference point for what a youthful, technically innovative, highly entrepreneurial industry would look like was the automobile industry - which would not at all be obvious to a modern reader who didn't know the early history of automobiles (I know the piece was written in the 80's, but for that part Wolfe is taking the perspective of someone in the burgeoning Silicon Valley of the 50's-60s)

davis 8y ago

Interestingly, Robert Noyce thought this article was a bit of a tall tale by Tom Wolfe. Here's a quote by him from 1984: > It's interesting to me to see what an enormous amount of publicity the microchip has gotten recently including that article of Tom Wolfe's. Incidentally, on that article of Tom Wolfe's, I do want to point out that Tom Wolfe is first of all a novelist. And only secondarily is he a historian but everything that appears in print of course is true as you've all learned. Particularly if you ever read something that you know something about. Source: https://youtu.be/AfxUq_QrpyY?t=2m20s https://youtu.be/AfxUq_QrpyY?t=2m20s