Integrated circuit turns 50 
By Shaun Nichols in San Francisco VNU Net -
The integrated circuit, the device that enabled computing as we now know it, is 50 years old today.
The circuit was first constructed in 1958 by Jack Kilby, a newly-hired engineer at Texas Instruments, who was able to combine all the components of an electrical circuit on a single piece of germanium.
Prior to Kilby's discovery, circuits had to be constructed by connecting components with wires.
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(Where would we be without it?)