Indispensably Yours

On this day way back in 1968, Intel Corporation was incorporated by Andrew Grove, Gordon Moore, and Robert Noyce as “NM Electronics.” The now-familiar name*, based on “Integrated Electronics” was adopted later in the year. In 1969, its first product was a random access memory chip. In 1974, Intel introduced the 8080 microprocessor, which quickly found uses in hundreds of products, including traffic lights, cash registers, and the earliest personal computers.

Microprocessors have gotten more powerful and smaller, so they are found in everything from the InstaPot to automotive diagnostics to interstellar spacecraft. We should all be grateful that we can now book a haircut appointment on line or qualify for a mortgage with the touch of a screen icon.

Synth-pop music wouldn't have been possible without the microprocessor.


* Is "Intel" a portmanteau word?