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Texas Instruments was founded by Cecil H. Green, Erik Jonsson , Eugene McDermott and Henry Bates Peacock , three of whom would live to see their ninetieth birthdays. On December 6, 1941, the four men purchased Geophysical Service Inc. (GSI), a pioneering provider of seismic exploration services to the petroleum industry. During World War II, GSI built electronics for the U.S. Army Signal Corps and the U.S. Navy. After the war, GSI continued to produce electronics, and in 1951 the company changed its name to Texas Instruments; GSI became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the new company. In 1954, TI designed the first transistor radio. Also in the 1950s, the integrated circuitAn integrated circuit (IC is a thin chip consisting of thousands or millions of interconnected semiconductor devices, mainly transistors, as well as passive components like resistors. As of 2004, typical chips are of size 1 cm2 or smaller, but larger ones was developed independently by Jack KilbyClair Kilby (born November 8, 1923) is a notable American electrical engineer. He invented the integrated circuit in 1958 while working at Texas Instruments. At about the same time Robert Noyce made the same discovery at Fairchild Semiconductor. Jack was of TI and Robert NoyceRobert Noyce ( December 12, 1927 June 3, 1990), nicknamed the Mayor of Silicon Valley co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 and Intel in 1968. He is also credited (along with Jack Kilby) with the invention of the integrated circuit or microchip. of Fairchild SemiconductorFairchild Semiconductor introduced the first commercially available integrated circuit (although at almost the same time as one from Texas Instruments), and would go on to become one of the major players in the evolution of Silicon Valley in the 1960s.. Kilby's patent for a "solid circuit" was filed in 1958. The 7400 series of transistor-transistor logicTransistor-transistor logic TTL is a class of digital circuits built from bipolar junction transistors (BJT), and resistors; it is notable for being the base for the first widespread semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) technology. TTL gained almost univ (TTL) chips, developed by TI in the 1960sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s Years: 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around, popularized the use of integrated circuits in computer logic, and is in widespread use to this day. TI also invented the hand-held calculatorA calculator is a device for performing numerical calculations. It should not be confused with a calculating machine. Nowadays many people have a calculator with them as part of their mobile phone and/or personal digital assistant. Engineers and accountan in 1967Events January January 4 British motorboat racer Donald Campbell dies while attempting a water speed record in Coniston Lake. January 4 Algerian revolutionary Mohammed Khider is shot in Madrid. January 6 Vietnam War: USMC and ARVN troops launch " Operatio, the single-chip microcomputer in 1971 and was assigned the first patent on a single-chip microprocessor (invented by Gary Boone ) in 1973. (Note: TI is usually given credit with Intel for the almost-simultaneous invention of the microprocessor.)
TI also continued to manufacture equipment for use in the seismic industry, and GSI continued to provide seismic services. After selling (and repurchasing) GSI, TI finally sold the company to Halliburton in 1988, at which point GSI ceased to exist as a separate entity.
TI continued to be active in the consumer electronics market through the 1970s and 1980s. In 1978, Texas Instruments introduced the first single chip speech synthesizer and incorporated it in a product called the Speak & Spell, which was later immortalized in the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Several spinoffs, such as the Speak & Read and Speak & Math, were introduced soon thereafter. In June 1979, they entered into the home computer market with the TI99/4, a competitor to such computers as the TRS-80 and the later Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore 64.