This was the content of Rich Goldman’s – the vice president of Synopsys, speech at the STARMUS festival, that was dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historical flight. The most significant achievements registered in the history of the mankind only for 50 years and a unique image of the research and achievement of the universe that were representing the incredible chronology of mankind achievements parallel to the history of the microelectronics development.
Of course, all the advances in computer technology and informatics, automation and instrumentation, space exploration, communications, consumer electronics became possible only thanks to achievements in physics and microelectronics, microelectronic devices and integrated circuits.
The first transistor, demonstrated in 1947 by the members of the research center Bell Labs, has been a major factor, which stimulated the investment of many remarkable innovations and technology development. The transistor has provided a phenomenal triumph for computers. The post-industrial era of the Informational Society started, which led to a change in the social structure of the population of developed countries first, and then gradually in the rest of the world.
The first integrated circuit device, invented in 1958 by Texas Instruments engineer Jack Kilby, became the basis of all modern microelectronics, which changed the world. Soon, integrated circuits were released to free sale, and they immediately began to be used in the manufacture of calculators and computers instead of individual transistors, which significantly reduced the size and increased the productivity.
The paces of development of the astronomy and space explorations were radically changed. The volume of new information in the astronomy in the XX century exceeded many times all that astronomers have painstakingly collected over all past centuries and millennia.
With this revolutionary technological progress the history of the universe achievement was arranged. In 1957 the USSR launched Sputnik-1 – the first human-made object to orbit the Earth. And in 1959 Luna 2 the first human-made object reached the surface of the Moon. In 1961 Gagarin successfully orbited the Earth. Three centuries later the first time Newton’s equation – the first cosmic speed of 11.8km/sec has been reached owing to human hands and minds.
The most successful and brilliantly performed ventures in the history of automated interplanetary missions that changed our knowledge level about the solar system were the flights of interplanetary robotic probes Voyageur 1 and 2, which left the Earth in the summer of 1977 to study the outer planets of the solar system. Voyageur 2 is still sending back signals from the furthest extreme of the solar system. In 1965 Aleksey Leonov became the first person to step out of a spacecraft and walk in space in “Voskhod 2”.
In 1968, when rather little quantities of chips were being produced (in the most complex chip of the Fairchild company were only 64 transistors), it haven’t been spoken about any reliable statistics in this industry. It’s amazing in such circumstance show could Gordon Moore, Intel Co-Founder predict fantastic growth rates throughout the industry for several decades ahead and predict the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit will double approximately every two years, and parallel to the exponential increase in the number of transistors on a chip processors will become cheaper and faster, and their production more and more popular. In 1969 the first time man landed on the moon. Neil Armstrong tells that the camera located on the moon rover was controlled remotely from the Earth. It was out of imagination at that time, although today in the routine we use remote controlling more and more.
Till now almost 700 humans have "slipped the surly bonds of Earth" and orbited our planet.
The first computer microprocessor of Intel 4004, released in 1971 contained 2,300 transistors. In 1989, the Intel 486, there were already 1.2 million, and in 2000 Intel Pentium 4 overcame the barrier of 42 million. The new quad-core Intel Core 2 Extreme, built on 45nm process technology, contains 820 million transistors.
In 1975, IBM released the first device that could be called a personal computer. In 1976 the first supercomputer "Cray-1" of an American company Cray Research Inc was created, which could carry 240 million arithmetic operations with floating-point operations per second (240 Mflop) and cost from $ 4 to $ 11 million depending on the configuration.
What do we have today? The iPhone of 2010 release is 689 times more powerful than the on-board computers of the shuttle Columbia. But their price fluctuates between a few hundred dollars.
The development of microelectronics is incredible. The integrated circuits inside your cell-phones, cameras and other electrical devices are designed by 28-32nm technology – there are 2 billion transistors on 1 square cm. And what do we have as a result? – Cell phones with reducing size and increasing functionality, cars alike to mobile computers (by the way more powerful than the board computers of spacecrafts in 1960s).
What is coming?
Smart houses that you enter without any key, because it recognizes you and opens the doors in front of you, the lights turn on as soon as you enter; you close the curtains with your mind and prepare the bath with the desired temperature. You turn on TV by your mind and choose the program you want or play music that is chosen automatically depending on your mood. The temperature of the air, the lightness, and the colors are changed according to your mood and the occasion. The only thing you should do just think what you want.
You can unlimitedly dream what a human can create using the scientific and technological achievements also created by him.
So what is our problem today? Armenia is a leader in the sphere of microelectronics. The fact of being chosen as a USSR’s center of microelectronics in 1956 provided all the prerequisites for Armenia to be the leader in the region. The educational programs of microelectronics that are used in Armenia and are taught in Synopsys within the frames of educational cooperation between the leading universities of Armenia are compatible and attractive for other countries in the region. Only during the last two years India, Jordan, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia adopted the educational programs created in Synopsys Armenia Educational Department under the authorship of Sc.D., Professor Vazgen Melikyan, director of the Synopsys Armenia Educational Department and Honorable Scientist of the Republic of Armenia.
Knowledge and technology are the base making the dreams possible to come true. Let’s educate our youth. Our future is defined by their dreams.