The man who invented the microprocessor

BBC ^ | May 4, 2011 | Iain Mackenzie

[decimon]

Ted Hoff saved his own life, sort of.

Deep inside this 73-year-old lies a microprocessor - a tiny computer that controls his pacemaker and, in turn, his heart.

Microprocessors were invented by - Ted Hoff, along with a handful of visionary colleagues working at a young Silicon Valley start-up called Intel.

This curious quirk of fate is not lost on Ted.

"It's a nice feeling," he says.

>

Ted was recruited and became Intel employee number 12.

In 1969, the company was approached by Busicom, a Japanese electronics maker, shopping around for new chips.

It wanted something to power a new range of calculators and asked for a set-up that used 12 separate integrated circuits.

Ted believed he could improve on that by squashing most of their functions onto a single central processing unit.

The result was a four-chip system, based around the Intel 4004 microprocessor.

>

[decimon]

"You are number 12."

Intel employee number 12, Marcian Edward "Ted" Hoff, was recruited by Robert Noyce and led the project that created the first microprocessor

[decimon]

My favorite Marcian ping.

[null and void]

Ahhhh the 4004...

[Signalman]

Over time, the price of computer memory would began to fall and storage capacity increase.

And government regulations and interference had nothing to do with this. Amazing how things get better when the government stays out of the way.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Impossible. Everyone knows Al Gore created the first microprocessor.

[catnipman]

“Impossible. Everyone knows Al Gore created the first microprocessor.”

I think you’re giving the man too much credit. Oh sure, everyone knows Al Gore invented the Internet, Ethanol, and the color Green, but I’m pretty sure Gore did not invent the microprocessor.

[musicman]

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[MCF]

I thought he invented the light bulb, the dim ones.

[martin_fierro]

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[waynesa98]

My dad worked for AT&T, I think we may still have a hexadecimal “computer” in the attic with the 4004 cpu.

[ShadowAce]

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

I don’t know about them microprocessor thingies but dude sure has some cool sideburns going on.

[SunkenCiv]

“My favorite Marcian”, too funny! That was my favorite show when it, and I, were both new. :’)

[antiRepublicrat]

And government regulations and interference had nothing to do with this. Amazing how things get better when the government stays out of the way.

Interestingly, I was just reading history of computers at the NSA, published by the NSA and covering a period from the 40s to the 60s. The government was VERY involved in the advancement of computer science.