Julius Blank

Julius Blank begins the interview with a look at his childhood and early education. He graduated high school at the age of fifteen and began taking classes at the City College of New York while working various jobs. When Blank turned eighteen, he enlisted and was sent to Europe to serve during the end of World War II. When he came home he finished college with the aid of the GI Bill and received a degree in mechanical engineering. Blank worked as an engineer at Babcock and Wilcox Company in Ohio, and then moved to Goodyear Aircraft. After two years, he and his wife moved back to New York where Blank got a job at Western Electric. In 1956, Blank was asked to join Shockley Semiconductor in California. He and his family moved to Palo Alto, where Blank worked on crystal growing for Shockley. Blank met Gordon Moore at Shockley, and eventually joined Moore and six other Shockley colleagues to form Fairchild Semiconductor. Blank first worked on crystal growing and research and development at Fairchild, but later helped set up assembly plants overseas. In 1969 Blank left Fairchild to become an independent consultant. Blank concludes the interview with some final thoughts on Gordon Moore.

Babcock-Wilcox Company

1950 - 1951 Engineer, steam drums

Goodyear Aircraft

1951 - 1952 Research and Development Engineer

Western Electric Company

1952 - 1956 Engineering, manufacturing toll crossbar equipment

Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory

1956 - 1957 Senior Staff Engineer

Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation

1957 - 1969

Co-founder, Facilities, Engineering Services, Division Manager

Various

1969 - present

Consultant; Director of several companies; Investor

Xicor

1978 - 2004 Director and Cofounder

David C. Brock

David C. Brock is a senior research fellow with the Center for Contemporary History and Policy at the Chemical Heritage Foundation. As a historian of science and technology, he specializes in the history of semiconductor science, technology, and industry; the history of instrumentation; and oral history. Brock has studied the philosophy, sociology, and history of science at Brown University, the University of Edinburgh, and Princeton University.

In the policy arena Brock recently published Patterning the World: The Rise of Chemically Amplified Photoresists, a white-paper case study for the Center’s Studies in Materials Innovation. With Hyungsub Choi he is preparing an analysis of semiconductor technology roadmapping, having presented preliminary results at the 2009 meeting of the Industry Studies Association.