Jack St. Clair Kilby is a pioneer in miniaturized electronics who holds more than sixty patents. He shares credit with Robert Noyce for inventing the integrated circuit chip while employed at Texas Instruments. Kilby also invented the hand-held calculator.

Kilby was born in Jefferson City, Missouri, on November 8, 1923. His father was an electrical engineer who became president of the Kansas Power Company when Kilby was four years old. The family moved to Salina, Kansas, where Kilby learned the intricacies of electricity during the summers when he accompanied his father on visits to company facilities throughout the western part of the state. His interest in electrical engineering was kindled in the winter of 1937 when his father used a ham radio to maintain contact with his power stations during a blizzard. Fascinated by radio, Kilby studied hard, soon gained his Federal Communications Commission license, and built his own radio using...