The article of today’s is speaking about the silicon chip, which is not a new invention, but a rather outdated one. I don’t want to talk about the advantages brought by the silicon chip in the last years, all I want is to give it the right credits. See what that chip has done: you are standing in the front of your computer, reading this, because of those who were that smart that invented such a tiny piece of technology.
This invention is shaping even today our future. First developed during the 60s space program, the chip was a way of miniaturizing the electrical circuits in a space craft. Because as you know, all you take with you inside a space shuttle must be small and must consume a very little space, the engineers had to come with an idea to create chips for their now outdated computer systems.
Individual electric circuit components can be protected by the silicon and connected by tiny aluminium strips. These integrated circuits and very reliable and extremely fast, millions of operating commands being made in seconds. The single circuits became so small nowadays, that you need millions of them to integrate inside an electric device. This meant at that time a revolution in what the computers could evolve. From the slow systems, they transformed themselves in rapid steps into the small and fast computers we use today. This is how the computer controls are now available in cars, washing machines, smartphones and televisions.
