Jack St. Clair Kilby, (not to be confused with Jack Kirby) 2000 Nobel laureate and one of the giants of the 20th century, died in Dallas today, 20-06-2005. Mr Kilby made this world possible and I, for one, am truly grateful. The information revolution would have been impossible without him. Texas Instruments has a rather short biographical note. Wikipedia links to the most influential of his more than 60 patents.