Question

Who invented the microchip?

• A. Robert Noyce and Jack Kilby
• B. Larry Page and Sergey Brin
• C. Sabeer Bhatia
• D. Gordon Moore & Robert Noyce

Hint:

Think about who built the first integrated circuit, not later software founders.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

The question asks who first built the microchip, also called the integrated circuit, a device that puts many transistors on one small chip.

1. Robert Noyce and Jack Kilby: Kilby built the first working integrated circuit at Texas Instruments in 1958, and Noyce built a practical silicon version at Fairchild Semiconductor in 1959. Both are credited as co-inventors of the microchip.
2. Larry Page and Sergey Brin: They founded Google in 1998, decades after the microchip existed, so this pair has nothing to do with its invention.
3. Sabeer Bhatia: He co-founded Hotmail, the web-based email service, which is a software product, not hardware like a chip.
4. Gordon Moore & Robert Noyce: Moore co-founded Intel with Noyce and gave us Moore's Law about transistor growth, but he did not build the first chip himself.

So option A is correct: Robert Noyce and Jack Kilby share credit for inventing the microchip.

Let's summarize:

• Jack Kilby built the first integrated circuit in 1958.
• Robert Noyce built the first practical silicon chip in 1959.
• Together they are seen as the co-inventors of the microchip.

Knowing this pair helps you separate chip inventors from later tech founders in similar GK questions.