Robert Norton Noyce (December 12, 1927 – June 3, 1990), nicknamed "the Mayor of Silicon Valley", was an American physicist and entrepreneur who co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 and Intel Corporation in 1968.

In 1990, he received a Lifetime Achievement Medal alongside Jack Kilby and John Bardeen during the bicentennial celebration of the Patent Act.

[13] Noyce's earliest childhood memory involved beating his father at ping pong and feeling shocked when his mother reacted to the news of his victory with a distracted "Wasn't that nice of Daddy to let you win?"

"[11] When Noyce was twelve years old in the summer of 1940, he and his brother built a boy-sized aircraft, which they used to fly from the roof of the Grinnell College stables.

While in high school, he exhibited a talent for mathematics and science and took the Grinnell College freshman physics course in his senior year.

In Noyce's junior year, he got in trouble for stealing a 25-pound pig from the Grinnell mayor's farm and roasting it at a school luau.

He also received a single honor from his classmates: the Brown Derby Prize, which recognized "the senior man who earned the best grades with the least amount of work".

[17] While Noyce was an undergraduate, he was fascinated by the field of physics and took a course in the subject that was taught by professor Grant Gale.

Noyce left a year later with the "traitorous eight"[23] upon having issues with Shockley's management style, and co-founded the influential Fairchild Semiconductor corporation.

[26] The basis for Noyce's monolithic IC was the planar process, developed in early 1959 by Jean Hoerni.

Noyce: the visionary, born to inspire; Moore: the virtuoso of technology; and Grove: the technologist turned management scientist.

He shunned fancy corporate cars, reserved parking spaces, private jets, offices, and furnishings in favor of a less-structured, relaxed working environment in which everyone contributed and no one received lavish benefits.

By declining the usual executive perks he stood as a model for future generations of Intel CEOs.

Noyce believed that microelectronics would continue to advance in complexity and sophistication well beyond its current state; this led to the question of what use society would make of the technology.

"[38] Noyce suffered a heart attack at age 62 at home on June 3, 1990, and later died at the Seton Medical Center in Austin, Texas.

[39] In July 1959, he filed for U.S. patent 2,981,877 "Semiconductor Device and Lead Structure", a type of integrated circuit.

[40] Two years later, he was inducted into the U.S. Business Hall of Fame sponsored by Junior Achievement,[41] during a black tie ceremony keynoted by President George H. W.

[42] In 1990 Noyce – along with, among others, Jack Kilby and transistor inventor John Bardeen – received a "Lifetime Achievement Medal" during the bicentennial celebration of the Patent Act.

[43] He was awarded the IEEE Medal of Honor in 1978 "for his contributions to the silicon integrated circuit, a cornerstone of modern electronics.

In 1990, Congress established the Robert Noyce National Math and Science Teachers Corps Act which authorizes awards up to 5,000 scholarships annually to assist individuals in obtaining a teaching degree.

Note: In 1960 Clevite Corporation acquired Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory, a subsidiary of Beckman Instruments, for whom Noyce worked.