The Man behind the Microchip: Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley

Hailed as the Thomas Edison and Henry Ford of Silicon Valley, Robert Noyce was a brilliant inventor, a leading entrepreneur, and a daring risk taker who piloted his own jets and skied mountains accessible only by helicopter. Now, in The Man Behind the Microchip, Leslie Berlin captures not only this colorful individual but also the vibrant interplay of technology, business, money, politics, and culture that defines Silicon Valley. Here is the life of a giant of the high-tech industry, the co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel who co-invented the integrated circuit, the electronic heart of every modern computer, automobile, cellular telephone, advanced weapon, and video game. With access to never-before-seen documents, Berlin paints a fascinating portrait of Noyce: he was an ambitious and intensely competitive multimillionaire who exuded a just folks sort of charm, a Midwestern preacher's son who rejected organized religion but would counsel his employees to go off and do something wonderful, a man who never looked back and sometimes paid a price for it. In addition, this vivid narrative sheds light on Noyce's friends and associates, including some of the best-known managers, venture capitalists, and creative minds in Silicon Valley. Berlin draws upon interviews with dozens of key players in modern American business — including Andy Grove, Steve Jobs, Gordon Moore, and Warren Buffett; their recollections of Noyce give readers a privileged, first-hand look inside the dynamic world of high-tech entrepreneurship. A modern American success story, The Man Behind the Microchip illuminates the triumphs and setbacks of one of the most important inventors and entrepreneurs of our time.

"By the high-tech boom of the 1990s, Intel CEO Andy Grove had become the man most commonly associated with the industry's leading manufacturer of microprocessors. But the real credit for creating Intel, Berlin argues, belongs to Noyce (1927 — 1990), who cofounded the company with Gordon Moore in 1968 — a little more than a decade after the two men took part in the creation of another early Silicon Valley fixture, Fairchild Semiconductor. Berlin, a science historian at Stanford, provides a well-rounded biography that easily establishes Noyce's scientific credentials — in addition to holding the patent on the integrated circuit, he also just missed out on taking credit for two Nobel-worthy discoveries — as well as his bumpy path through the corporate world, which began when he was recruited by seven colleagues to break away from the research lab where they were employed to found Fairchild. Interviews with Noyce's contemporaries and family illuminate the less happy aspects of his personal life. With the bloom off the Internet economy, it may prove harder to generate interest in the life of a technology executive, but that shouldn't diminish Berlin's excellent work here. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Leslie Berlin does an excellent job of capturing the Bob Noyce I knew: part small-town boy, part big-time genius and always a wonderful friend and citizen." Warren E. Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

"Bob Noyce's contributions to the development of the semiconductor industry go well beyond his inventions. But this well written book does more than just chronicle his many contributions; it is a window into his complex and charming personality." Gordon E. Moore, co-founder of Intel Corporation

"Meticulously researched, The Man Behind the Microchip is so engagingly narrated that you don't realize how much business and technology you are learning along the way." William Aspray, Rudy Professor of Informatics, Indiana University

"[T]hanks to this incisive and astutely researched biography, Noyce will be forever listed among those inventor-entrepreneurs of the postwar era who functioned as the Johan Gutenbergs, the Alexander Graham Bells, the Guglielmo Marconis of our era." Kevin Starr, University Professor of History, University of Southern California

Here is the life of a giant of the high-tech industry, Robert Noyce, the co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel who co-invented the integrated circuit — the electronic heart of every modern computer, automobile, cellular telephone, advanced weapon, and video game.

Leslie Berlin is Visiting Scholar in the Program in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at Stanford University. She lives in Palo Alto.