M.E.
"Ted" Hoff
Fascinating facts about Ted Hoff inventor of the microprocessor in 1968.
Dr. Marcian Edward "Ted" Hoff, Jr. was born October 28, 1937 at Rochester,
New York. He received a BEE (1958) from Rensselear Polytechnic Institute in
Troy, NY. During the summers away from college he worked for General Railway
Signal Company in Rochester where he made developments that produced his first
two patents. He attended Stanford as a National Science Foundation Fellow and
received a MS (1959) and Ph.D. (1962) in electrical engineering. He joined Intel
in 1962.
As a researcher for the Intel Co, who were developing an integrated circuit
for a Japanese manufacturer of desk-top calculators. With a knowledge of computers
(then still very large machines) he designed the computer-on-a-chip microprocessor
(1968), which came on the market as the Intel 4004 (1971), starting the microcomputer
industry.
In 1980, he was named the
first Intel Fellow, the highest technical position in the company. He spent
a brief time as VP for Technology with Atari in the early 1980s and is currently
VP and Chief Technical Officer with Teklicon, Inc. Other honors include the
Stuart Ballantine Medal from the Franklin Institute. Inducted into National
Inventors Hall of Fame in 1996 for his invention of the Microprocessor Concept
and Architecture.
