Gordon Moore, a pioneer in the field of semiconductors and co-founder of Intel Corporation, passed away at the age of 94 in Hawaii. Mr. Moore’s most significant contribution to the world of technology was his prediction that computer processing powers would double every year, famously known as Moore’s Law. This insight served as the foundation of the computer processor industry and influenced the PC revolution.
Moore wrote in a 1965 article that integrated circuits would lead to “wonders such as home computers, automatic controls for automobiles, and personal portable communications equipment.” He observed that thanks to technological improvements, the number of transistors on microchips had doubled every year since integrated circuits’ invention, and he predicted that this trend would continue. This prediction, known as Moore’s Law, helped drive chipmakers to target their research to make it a reality.
Moore earned his PhD and then joined the Fairchild Semiconductor laboratory, where he worked on commercially viable transistors and integrated circuits. The expansion of that company laid the groundwork for the transformation of the peninsula of land south of San Francisco into what is now known as Silicon Valley. In 1968, Moore and Robert Noyce left Fairchild to start Intel.
Moore’s work was crucial to the significant technological progress around the world that allowed for the advent of personal computers and tech giants like Apple, Facebook, and Google. “All I was trying to do was get that message across, that by putting more and more stuff on a chip we were going to make all electronics cheaper,” Moore said in a 2008 interview.
Intel paid tribute to its co-founder, saying that “we lost a visionary.” Intel’s current CEO Pat Gelsinger said that Gordon Moore had defined the technology industry through his insight and vision and inspired technologists and entrepreneurs across the decades. Moore dedicated his later life to philanthropy, focusing on environmental causes, such as protecting the Amazon River basin and salmon streams in the US, Canada, and Russia.
In 2002, Moore received the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour in the US, from President George W Bush. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, which he founded with his wife, continues to pursue environmental causes. “Those of us who have met and worked with Gordon will forever be inspired by his wisdom, humility, and generosity,” the foundation’s president Harvey Fineberg said.
