Gordon Moore receives the 2001 Othmer Gold Medal

Philadelphia -- Dr. Gordon E. Moore, co-founder of Intel Corporation and chairman emeritus, is the recipient of the 2001 Othmer Gold Medal. Gordon Moore is a principal architect of our modern world. He has applied the principles of chemistry on the micro level to create the modern semiconductor industry. The technologies of the integrated circuit and the microprocessor display his multiple talents and chemical genius, while "Moore's Law" is the metric of our age. As research scientist, innovator, gifted entrepreneur, business leader, and statesman, Gordon Moore has played seminal roles in the semiconductor world and on a wider stage, thus broadening and furthering the chemical enterprise and its heritage.

Gordon Moore was selected as the 2001 Othmer Gold Medalist by a multisociety jury and received the Othmer Gold Medal at a luncheon in New York City on 27 April 2001. The Gold Medal, which commemorates the life and achievements of Dr. Donald Othmer, acknowledges multifaceted individuals who have made enduring contributions to our chemical and scientific heritage through exceptional activity in the areas of innovation, entrepreneurship, research, education, public understanding, legislation, or philanthropy. Previous Gold Medal recipients are Arnold O. Beckman, Carl Djerassi, Mary Lowe Good, Ralph Landau, and P. Roy Vagelos.

The Chemical Heritage Foundation established this prestigious annual award to celebrate the richness and enduring strength of our chemical and general scientific heritage; to recognize the extraordinary achievements that shaped this heritage; and to inspire us to draw on this vital resource as we embrace the challenges of tomorrow.

Gordon Moore's passion for chemistry began in early childhood. He studied chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, and then at the California Institute of Technology, where he received his Ph.D. in chemistry and physics. Following a short time with the Applied Physics Laboratory at the Johns Hopkins University, Moore was selected by William Shockley to join Shockley Semiconductor Laboratories (a subsidiary of Beckman Instruments, Inc.) in 1956. After one year, Moore left Shockley with seven of his colleagues to form the Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation. Fairchild Semiconductor became an enormously inventive and successful chipmaker, with Moore as its head of research. The prediction that computing power would grow exponentially over a period of about two years came to be known as "Moore's Law." Moore's research and innovative discoveries became a huge success and have changed the way computer technology has evolved.

In 1968, Moore, along with Robert Noyce, co-founded the Intel Corporation, where the industrial production of microprocessors from silicon semiconductors originated. Moore made significant contributions to chemistry and the chemical process industries by engineering two of the most important technologies of the information age: the integrated circuit and the microprocessor.

Moore has received numerous awards and honors, including the National Academy of Engineering's Founders Award and the 1990 National Medal of Technology. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the California Institute of Technology. Moore also received an honorary degree from Princeton University in 2000. Moore is heavily involved with Conservation International, where he is chairman of the executive committee. In November 2000 Moore established the Gordon E. and Betty I. Moore Foundation to fund scientific, environmental, and educational ventures.

The Othmer Gold Medal Luncheon was held at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. In addition to receiving the Gold Medal, which features the likeness of Dr. Othmer on its face and the logo of the Chemical Heritage Foundation on the reverse, Moore will have the privilege of donating a complete set of the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology (a generous gift of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) to his favorite organization.

The Othmer Gold Medal Luncheon is co-sponsored annually by the Chemical Heritage Foundation and four affiliated professional societies--the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, The Chemists' Club, and the Soci�t� de Chimie Industrielle. The Luncheon celebrates the societies' common goals and the birthday of the late Donald Othmer, noted researcher, consultant, editor, engineer, inventor, philanthropist, professor, and co-editor of the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology.

The Chemical Heritage Foundation was founded in 1982 by joint action of the American Chemical Society and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. CHF seeks to advance the heritage of the chemical and molecular sciences by collecting and disseminating information about historical resources; encouraging research, scholarship, and popular writing; publishing resource guides and historical materials; conducting oral histories; creating traveling exhibits and other educational resource materials; and taking other appropriate steps to make known the achievements of chemical scientists and the chemical process industries.

For more information on the Chemical Heritage Foundation and its programs, visit our Web site at http://www.chemheritage.org.