Don't delay the critical test

Words to remember (or borrow) on the business of science

Gordon E. Moore

Gordon E. Moore, co-founded Intel in 1968

"....Some things may have been tried before their time, but if these things don't violate the laws of physics they are likely to prove possible the next time around. Engineering is a series of failures with an occasional success. At least the kind where you are really looking at new technology. You tend to try things. You try things that are extrapolations of what has happened before. A lot of them don't work. Occasionally, you hit one that does. That's the way we make progress. Failures are not something to be avoided. You want to have them happen as quickly as you can so you can make progress rapidly. But, I've known technical people who are very competent but who would avoid doing a critical experiment. They would kind of work around the problem and do the things where the results were relatively straightforward, but they hated to do that experiment that might tell if their whole approach was right or wrong. And these people were relatively nonproductive. Then I've known other people who weren't perhaps as bright as the ones that worked around the problem who jumped right at the heart of the matter. They turn out to be the most productive. So my single piece of advice is don't delay making the critical test. That's the one that will tell you if you are right or wrong and where to go next." From an interview conducted by Ingenuity Editor Laura Schmitt with Dr. Moore at Intel's headquarters in Santa Clara, CA, on March 2, 2000.

Moore is widely known for "Moore's Law”, in which in 1965 he predicted that the number of transistors the industry would be able to place on a computer chip would double every year. In 1975, he updated his prediction to once every two years. While originally intended as a rule of thumb in 1965, it has become a guiding economic principle for the industry to deliver ever more powerful semiconductor chips at proportionate decreases in cost.

He is currently chairman emeritus of Intel Corporation. Moore co-founded the company in 1968, and became president and chief executive officer in 1975. He remained CEO until 1987 and was named chairman emeritus in 1997. He received the National Medal of Technology from President George H.W. Bush in 1990. From Intel executive bio.