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The process of innovation has been around for a long time. In fact, it's part of the evolution process itself—not just the evolution of technology or the evolution of business—but the evolution of humanity. For me, as a physicist, that's why it's a thrill to be a part of the current wave of innovation—because, in today's world, technology is leading human evolution.

Think way, way back—to just after the Ice Age—and imagine a stormy night when some very primitive, human-like creature was out in the woods. Imagine a fierce lightning strike in the forest that caused trees to burst into flames. All the animals (including the human-like beings) probably ran in terror from this event—except for one, which looked at this moment differently. Surely the creature was scared, but it realized that the warmth felt good. You can imagine some rudimentary experiments that eventually led to the preservation of that fire.

Well, once this creature had fire and could keep the fire lit, three things happened. For one thing, the creature could stay warm. That was nice. Second, the fire kept the wilder animals away. They were conditioned to fear fire. Third, it brought groups of human beings together. Under the shelter of caves, they would build fires; and instead of being scattered, humans started to live in groups. The tribe was born.

The ability to create and control fire was a massive innovation. It was the beginning of human civilization, really. It transformed human beings into social creatures. And this probably happened—as most innovations do—because one individual chose to look at a problem differently than everyone else.

I was fortunate enough to witness a bold stroke of innovative thinking early in my career. In 1959, I received my Ph.D., which I wrote on the physics of transistors. I spent my entire graduate career learning about transistors; how they worked and how you could make them better. At that time, almost all of us were charging down the path of trying to make better transistors.

That same year, I met Bob Noyce, the man who would later start Intel with Gordon Moore. Bob and some other engineers, including Gordon, had just started a little company called Fairchild Semiconductor. While the whole