Visiting the Old Red Courthouse for the TIAA annual meeting was a
trip down memory lane for members who worked at Texas Instruments in
Dallas.
They toured the renovated Romanesque Revival courthouse—the center
of town for many years—and the Old Red Museum of Dallas County
History and Culture.
Construction began in 1890 on the Pecos red sandstone and Arkansas blue
granite courthouse, built on property donated by Dallas founder John
Neely Bryan. This was the fifth courthouse to occupy the site and cost
$300,000. Dallas was elected the permanent county seat in 1850.
The museum features areas of interest and aspects of Dallas County
history from sports and music to medicine and business. It has 600
artifacts, 1,000 photos and 50 interactive touch screens.
TIAA members found TI-related material in the museum, including the
panel that reads:
Texas Instruments, the Dallas-based pioneer developer of silicon
transistors, integrated circuits, pocket calculators, and
semiconductor microprocesors, traces its origins to Geophysical
Service Inc. (GSI) was founded by John Clarence Karcher and Eugene
McDermott, who developed a seismograph process useful in oil
exploration.
At the beginning of World War II, GSI realized that oil-exploration
technology could also be used for submarine detection, and GSI began
manufacturing military electronics for the government.
The company changed its name to Texas Instruments in 1951, and in
1954 it produced the first portable transistor radio. In 1958, TI
engineer Jack Kilby invented the integrated circuit, for which he
later received the Nobel Prize. TI went on to build the first
portable hand-held calculator and received the first patent on a
microprocesor, a true ‘computer on a chip.’
There are photos of the first integrated circuit and of Erik Jonsson,
H.B. Peacock, Eugene McDermott and Cecil Green, the GSI managers who
bought GSI from the original owners in 1941.
A TI calculator and silicon wafer are in the children’s education
gallery.
The Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Foundation was a major benefactor to
the Old Red Museum. Pat Haggerty was considered a TI founder for his
legendary contributions to the company.
|
