Google Doodle celebrates Robert Noyce

Nicknamed 'the Mayor of Silicon Valley', Noyce cofounded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 and Intel in 1968. The integrated chip fuelled the computer revolution that gave Silicon Valley its name. Born in 1927, Noyce took his first job in 1953 as a research engineer at the Philco Corporation in Philadelphia. Three years later he moved on to the Shockley semiconductor laboratory, but had issues with the quality of the company's management. He left in 1957 with 'the traitorous eight' to cofound Fairchild. In July 1959, just a few months after the key findings of Jack Kilby, Noyce filed for US Patent 2,981,877 'Semiconductor Device and Lead Structure', a type of integrated circuit. As a result of the invention, he was to be honoured by three US presidents. By 1968, Noyce and Gordon Moore had cofounded Intel. Noyce was well respected by the industry, treating employees as family and encouraging team work. His management style is said to have been a huge influence on subsequent Intel ceos. Noyce died after suffering a heart attack on June 3 1990 by which time he was president and ceo of Sematech. The non profit consortium was organised as a partnership between the US government and 14 corporations in a bid to help the American computer industry catch up with the Japanese in semiconductor manufacturing technology. Noyce once said he wanted to, "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."