Chairman Emeritus of Intel Corporation

Gordon Earl Moore was born on January 3, 1929. Moore was born in San Francisco, California. He received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1950 and a Ph.D. in Chemistry and Physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1954. Prior to studying at Berkeley, he spent his freshman and sophomore years at San Jose State University, where he met his future wife.

Gordon Moore joined Caltech alumnus William Shockley at the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory division of Beckman Instruments, but left with the “Traitorous Eight” to create the influential Fairchild Semiconductor corporation.

In 2001, Moore, a Caltech trustee, and his wife donated $600 million to Caltech. At the time, it was the largest gift ever to an institution of higher education. Moore said that he wanted the gift to be used to keep Caltech at the forefront of research and technology.

He then went on to become the co-founder of Intel Corporation. Gordon Moore has also received credit for Moore’s Law. Moore’s Law was published in an article in Electronics Magazine dated April 19, 1965. Simply stated, Moore’s Law is an empirical observation regarding the relationship between transistor density of integrated circuits and minimum component cost. Every twenty-four months, the transistor density doubles, holding minimum component cost steady.

He co-founded Intel Corporation in July of 1968, serving as Executive Vice President until 1975 when he became President and Chief Executive Officer. In April 1979, Dr. Gordon Moore became Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, holding that position until April 1987, when he became Chairman of the Board. He currently serves as Chairman Emeritus.

The library at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge is named after him and his wife Betty.