Robert Norton Noyce was born on the 12th December 1927, in Burlington, Iowa USA, and was a mathematician, physician, technology entrepreneur and inventor, who is most famous for being the co-inventor of integrated circuit, without which today’s communications and device manufacturing wouldn’t be even imaginable. He was also widely recognized as the co-founder of Intel Corporation, and the creator of the term “Silicon Valley”. Robert Noyce passed away in 1990.
Have you ever wondered how much wealth “the Mayor of Silicon Valley” accumulated for life? Or how rich would Robert Noyce be nowadays? According to sources, it is estimated that the total of Robert Noyce’s net worth, as of mid-2017, would exceed the sum of $3.7 billion, acquired through his Intel Corporation and his patents which marked the beginning of the personal computer revolution.
Robert Noyce Net Worth $3.7 billion
Robert was the third out of four sons of Harriet May Norton and Ralph Brewster Noyce. Robert showed interest and aptitude for mechanics and physics at the early age of 12 when he, alongside one of his brothers, made a toy-sized airplane model. Later, he installed a propelled engine to his snow sledge, and even managed to make his own radio device. He attended Grinnell High School from which he matriculated in 1945, after which he enrolled at Grinnell College from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics and mathematics in 1949. Robert continued his education, and in 1953 obtained his PhD in physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Noyce began his career at Philco Corporation, in which he served as a researcher. In 1956 he transferred to Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory, however, just a year later alongside seven other engineers, the so-called “traitorous eight”, Noyce left Shockley and co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation where he was involved in transistor production. Soon after, he realized how to optimize the production process, and invented the integrated circuit – basically a number of transistors etched on a single silicon chip; he shared the patent’s credits with Texas Instruments’ Jack Killby, and this discovery led to a breakthrough in that era’s technological reach which caused the personal computer revolution, besides massively contributing to the total of Robert Noyce’s net worth.
In 1968 Noyce teamed up with Gordon Moore, and co-founded Intel Corporation – today’s genuine technological giant and the biggest semiconductor chip producer in the world. Apart from being “responsible” for creating x86 microprocessors back in the late 1970s, Intel is today known as the leading computer processor maker and one of the leaders in technological development, manufacturing also motherboards, graphic chips, flash memory modules as well as network interface controllers which have been installed in products from world’s top computer brands such as Dell, Apple and HP. Robert Noyce set the foundation for technological progress, setting an example not only as an inventor, but also as a visionary and a model for today’s CEOs. All these accomplishments helped Robert Noyce to dramatically increase his wealth.
Robert Noyce’s portfolio contains 15 patents for which he was honored with numerous awards, including National Medal of Technology, IEEE Medal of Honor, and National Medal of Science. He was also inducted into the US Business Hall of Fame in 1989.
When it comes to his personal life, Noyce was married twice – between 1953 and 1974 he was married to Elizabeth Bottomley, with whom he welcomed four children. In 1974, Robert married Ann Schmeltz Bowers with whom he stayed until his death parted them. For life, he enjoyed reading, Hemingway’s works in particular, as well as gliding, scuba diving and flying in his personal airplane.
Robert Noyce passed away after a heart attack at the age of 62, on the 3rd June 1990 in Austin, Texas.
In 1990, his family founded The Noyce Foundation which was focused on improving public education, before ending its operations in 2015.
