Integrated circuits - Kilby's invention

The idea of the integrated circuit was conceived by a radar scientist working for the Royal Radar Establishment of the British Ministre of Defence, Geoffrey W.A Dummer. Dummer presented the idea to the public at the Symposium on Progress in Quality Electronic Components in Washington, D.C. on 7 May 1952. He gave many symposia publicly to propagate his ideas, and unsuccessfully attempted to build such a circuit in 1956.

A precursor idea to the IC was to create small ceramic squares (wafers), each one containing a single miniaturized component. Components could then be integrated and wired into a bidimensional or tridimensional compact grid. This idea, which looked very promising in 1957, was proposed to the US Army by Jack Kilby, and led to the short-lived Micromodule Program. However, as the project was gaining momentum, Kilby came up with a new, revolutionary design: the IC.
Kilby won the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics for his part of the invention of the integrated circuit.