GigaOM

As often as I reference Moore’s Law you’d think I’d know everything about Gordon Moore, the former co-founder, president and chairman of Intel who helped create the chip industry today. In a fit of wild extrapolation, he came up with the idea that the number of transistors on a chip would double every year, and later, based on his experience, he reasoned out the eponymous law that says transistors will double every 2 years. But an in-depth interview with Moore conducted by SEMI has taught me a thing or two about the man.

1. He can blow glass. I’ve done this folks, and it’s not easy. Or safe.
2. He once evaporated several thousand dollars worth of platinum inside a furnace.
3. He inhaled. Arsenic.
4. The man has no heroes, but he did like his math teacher.
5. And he believes that, in the chip industry, when the going gets tough, the tough speed new product development.