Gordon E. Moore is a giant in computer science. He co-founded Intel Corporation, the world’s largest computer chip producer, and coined the phrase “Moore’s Law.” The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) has chosen to award Moore with the sixth annual Nierenberg Prize for his contribution to science in the public interest.
SIO will honor Moore today, Sept. 14 with a bronze medal and $25,000, and Moore will speak on “Behind the Ubiquitous Microchip.” The lecture is free and open to the public, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Potiker Theater at the La Jolla Playhouse.
Moore was chosen for the award because “he was one of the early movers and shakers in computer science,” said Nigella Hillgarth, chair of the selection committee and executive director of SIO’s Birch Aquarium.
In 1965, Moore predicted that the number of transistors the industry could place on a chip would double each year; he later updated that figure to once every two years in 1975. Moore’s estimate became the guiding principle for the industry to produce increasingly powerful semiconductor chips.
“He realized the huge importance and relevance of fitting more and more information on a smaller and smaller space on a chip “¦ He transformed not just computer science, but enormous areas of science,” Hillgarth said.
The Nierenberg Prize is named for renowned scientist William Nierenberg, who directed Scripps from 1965 to ’86. The prize honors leaders who have contributed to science in the public interest.
In the past six years, Scripps has awarded the Nierenberg Prize to naturalist E.O. Wilson, newsman Walter Cronkite, marine ecologist Jane Lubchenco, primatologist Dame Jane Goodall and nature filmmaker Sir David Attenborough.
The La Jolla Playhouse is located at the University of California, San Diego, off Revelle College Drive. For more information about the lecture, call (858) 534-3624 or visit www.scripps.ucsd.edu.