Description
The Robert (Bob) Norman papers hold the professional and personal papers of Bob Norman, who was an engineer who worked at
Fairchild Semiconductor, General Micro Electronics, and other technology companies involved in integrated circuit production
during the 1960s and 1970s in Silicon Valley. He is known for designing the first Micrologic integrated circuits at Fairchild
Semiconductor as well as cofounding General Micro-Electronics, Inc., which pioneered MOS integrated circuits. Ranging in date
from 1963 to 2009, with the bulk between 1963 and 1985, this collection traces his early work on integrated circuits as well
as his work at companies such as Nortec Electronics Corporation, Timex, Applied Micro Circuits Corporation, General Dynamics,
and Singer Corporation. Types of materials in the collection include correspondence, memos, lab notebooks, clippings, presentation
materials, internal business documents, project planning and implementation documents, board of directors meeting minutes,
industry market forecasts, research files, and handwritten notes and figures. The collection also includes files related to
Norman's personal life, including correspondence and hand-written reflections on his career.
Background
Robert (Bob) Norman was an engineer who worked at Fairchild Semiconductor, General Micro Electronics, and other technology
companies involved in integrated circuit production during the 1960s and 1970s in Silicon Valley. Born in New York on March
24, 1927, Norman served in WWII as a gunner on the battleship "Alabama." He graduated from Oklahoma A&M with a degree in electrical
engineering and obtained his master's degree at Columbia University. From 1953 to 1959, Norman worked at Sperry Gyroscope
Company, where he introduced the use of semiconductors in logic design. He then joined Fairchild Semiconductor in Mountain
View, California in 1959, where he designed Micrologic, the first family of planar integrated circuits. In 1963, Norman co-founded
General Microelectronics (GM-e), the first company to manufacture commercial MOS integrated circuits. From 1966 to 1972, Norman
was President of Nortec Electronics Corporation, after which he worked at American Microsystems, Inc., Ion Equipment Corporation,
and Astrotech Corporation. From 1977 to 1980, Norman worked at Timex Corporation, and from 1981 to 1982 he served as the Manager
of Programs and Technical Publications at Applied Micro Circuits Corporation. From 1983 to 1984 he established Application
Specific Integrated Circuit development at Singer Corporation. Norman then worked at General Dynamics from 1984 to 1992, where
he managed the development of a computer for combat vehicles and an automatic infra-red target recognizer. Over the course
of his career, Norman earned 23 patents. He passed away on January 6, 2017 in Massachusetts.
Extent
4.75 Linear feet,
4 record cartons
Restrictions
The Computer History Museum (CHM) can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying
any claims of the copyright holder. Requests for copying and permission to publish, quote, or reproduce any portion of the
Computer History Museum's collection must be obtained jointly from both the copyright holder (if applicable) and the Computer
History Museum.
Availability
The collection is open for research.