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Gordon Moore

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Computer Tech

The Resume

    (January 3, 1929-March 24, 2023)
    Born in San Francisco, California
    One of eight founders of Fairchild Semiconductor (1957)
    Founded Intel with Robert Noyce (1968)
    CEO (1975-87) and Chair of the Board of Directors (1979-97) of Intel
    Formulated Moore's Law (1965): The number of transistors per silicon chip doubles every year (revised in 1975 to doubling every two years)
    Received the National Medal of Technology (1990) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2002)

Why he might be annoying:

    He recalled about his youthful experiments with a home chemistry set, 'Most people who knew me then would have described me as quiet, except for the bombs.'
    He once dismissed personal computers as 'something of a joke.'
    He called Moore's Law 'a lucky guess that got a lot more publicity than it deserved.'
    Moore's Law will eventually run into two physical limitations: the atomic nature of matter places a limit on how small components can get, while the finite speed of light places a limit on how fast information can be transmitted.

Why he might not be annoying:

    Moore's Law became a self-fulfilling prophecy as chip manufacturers targeted research to meet the doubling rate.
    He said, 'With engineering, I view this year's failure as next year's opportunity to try again.'
    He was married to Betty Whittaker for 72 years.
    He and his wife founded the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and gave over $5 billion to charities, including a $600 million grant to Caltech that at the time was the largest single donation to an institute of higher education.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 80 Votes: 47.50% Annoying