IC

50 years ago today (September 12, 1958) Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments demonstrated that the Earth is flat and can be shrunk considerably... Oh, well, not realy, but he did show that at least 5 earthly components could be put on a really small piece of silicone to form an "integrated circuit" called later a "microchip." It looked like this:



Kilby and the co-founder of Fairchild Industries Robert Noyce are considered co-inventors of IC.

(Picture source unknown - it is floating out there in the electronic wilderness...)