Engineering the World : Stories from the First 75 Years of Texas Instruments

This volume celebrates the can-do, risk-taking, creative pioneers of Texas Instruments from its inception in the 1930s as a tiny geophysical exploration company working out of the back of a truck in the oilfields of the Southwest, to its status in the world today as one of the world's leading electronics companies. From the determination of its foundersEugene McDermott, Erik Jonsson, Cecil Green, and Pat Haggertyto the genius of its inventors such as Nobel prizewinner Jack Kilby, TI has transformed the world in seven and a half decades.

In photographs and anecdotes, the book tells TI's history of innovation in products and technologies, including the development of the first commercial silicon transistors, the first integrated circuits, and the first electronic hand-held calculators. Today, this Fortune 500 company is at the forefront of digital signal processing and analog technologiesthe semiconductor engines of the Internet age. TIers are currently working on solutions for large global markets such as wireless and broadband access, and for a variety of emerging markets such as digital projection systems and digital audio.

The seventy-five vignettes making up this history paint a picture of TI and its people, providing a window into a corporate culture that fosters the creativity and mental toughness to compete in the world semiconductor market. The stories, in addition, show TI's staunch sense of fiscal responsibility, civic mindedness, and high ethical standards in its business practices.

CALEB PIRTLE III, vice president and editorial director for Dockery House Publishing in Dallas, is the award-winning author of more than thirty books. A former travel editor forSouthern Living magazine, he has co-written two teleplays for CBS and has written for such publications asTravel & Leisure, Bon Appetit, and Holiday. He's the recipient of a Texas Associated Press Award, Small Press Book Award, and a Discover America Award.