Pioneers of the Chip: The Hidden History Behind Every Device You Own

The dramatis personae include William Shockley, the brilliant but paranoid physicist who invented the transistor and drove away the eight engineers who would go on to found Silicon Valley. It features Robert Noyce and Jack Kilby, who raced to invent the integrated circuit, and the visionaries who turned Moore's Law from a simple observation into a self-fulfilling prophecy. This is not just a story of technology; it's a story of how innovation really happens, told through the lives of the forgotten pioneers who built the modern world.

Inside, you'll discover:

• The untold stories of the forgotten pioneers of the solid state

• The drama of the transistor's invention at Bell Labs

• The rise and fall of William Shockley and the "Traitorous Eight"

• How the integrated circuit changed everything in a single moment

• The planar process that made silicon the material of the future

• Japan's challenge and the memory wars of the 1980s

• The modern geopolitics of the semiconductor supply chain

By the time you finish this book, you will understand the invisible infrastructure that powers your life and the remarkable human story behind every chip.