Gordon Moore

Gordon E. Moore (1929-2023) was co-founder (with Robert Noyce) and emeritus chairman of Intel. Moore is widely known for Moore's law, the observation that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit doubles about every two years.

Moore was born in San Francisco, California and got his Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from UC Berkeley in 1950, and a PhD in Chemistry and Physics from California Institute of Technology in 1954. He co-founded Intel in 1968 but only became president and CEO in 1975. He remained CEO until 1987 and was eventually named chairman emeritus in 1997.

Moore is known for making a prediction which created a sensation in the semiconductor industry. This prediction is referred to as Moore's law. In an article he wrote in 1965 called, Cramming more components onto integrated circuits, Moore predicted that the number of components on a computer chip would double every year. A decade later in 1975, he changed his prediction to once every two years.

Moore’s law has since been the guiding principle in the semiconductor industry and has often had a chicken-egg effect on chip manufacturers as they try to keep pace with the law.

Gordon E. Moore was on the board of directors of Gilead Sciences Inc and also served on the board of trustees of his alma mater, California Institute of Technology. He received the National Medal of Technology in 1990 from George H. W. Bush and the Medal of Freedom in 2002 from George W. Bush.