Intel's Moore gives $12.5 Million to Cambridge University Library and Stephen Hawking Archive.

CAMBRIDGE, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 1, 1998--

Foreteller of

the power of computers invests in Physical Sciences and Technology

Library

Sir Alec Broers, Vice-Chancellor (President) of Cambridge University announced today that the University will go ahead with plans to build a new $12.5 million ((pound)7.5 million) Physical Sciences and Technology Library.

The Cambridge University Development Office in the United States (CUDOUS) has received a gift of $8.5 m from the Chairman Emeritus of Intel, Dr. Gordon Moore and his wife, Betty. This is the first part of a donation that will total approximately $12.5 million ((pound)7.5 million).

The benefactor, Dr. Gordon E. Moore, is the Chairman Emeritus of Intel Corporation, which he co-founded in 1968. In the mid 1960s, while Director of Development at Fairchild Semiconductor, he made astonishingly accurate predictions about the growth of computing power, which became known as "Moore's Law". The microprocessor, which Intel introduced in 1971, when combined with "Moore's Law," forms the foundation for today's microcomputer revolution.

The Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, Professor Sir Alec Broers, himself a former IBM executive, said: "Gordon Moore is a hero of the computer industry. His insight into the computer revolution, and his ability to translate that insight into commercial success, are astounding and have changed all of our lives."

Gordon Moore explained his thoughts: "The University of Cambridge has a long history of doing leading research into some of the most fundamental questions that humankind can ask. This library is an exciting and uplifting project to which I am pleased to contribute."

The Physical Sciences and Technology Library will unify the extensive scientific information resources that are currently scattered around the medieval center of Cambridge. The new library will bring these resources together physically by merging collections through a state-of-the-art electronic infrastructure. The new facility will also house the Stephen Hawking Archive, which will include a digitized archive of Professor Hawking's research, early handwritten papers and an original manuscript of "A Brief History of Time."

About Gordon Moore's gift, Professor Hawking said: "As we approach the millennium, we are making progress in science and technology at an ever increasing rate. Expedient and focused retrieval of existing research is essential to that progress, and Gordon Moore foresaw that, as he did the future of computers many years ago. The fact that Dr. Moore is the benefactor that enabled my collection to be housed is nicely fitting, because I am 'Intel Inside' myself." The Intel chip is integral to Professor Hawking's voice synthesizer.

For further information, or for a history of scientific discoveries at Cambridge University, please contact:

John McCaffrey, CUDOUS Tel: [phone] Tom Waldrop, Intel Corporation Tel: [phone] Peter Fox, University Librarian Tel: [phone] Susie Baker, Press and Publications Office Tel: [phone]

Further information can also be viewed at http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/science, which includes video footage from Dr. Gordon Moore, Professor Sir Alec Broers and Professor Stephen Hawking.

Cambridge science breakthroughs

In its almost 800 years of history, Cambridge University has a long tradition of scientific excellence. Famous Cambridge science names include Isaac Newton, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in the 17th century, the chair held today by Professor Stephen Hawking, and J.J. Thomson who discovered the electron.

Some of those achievements in the last 300 years are:

1600

Dr.William Gilbert of St John's College publishes his 'De Magnete', a scientific work that became fundamental to the subsequent development of navigation and map making.

1627

John Harvard enters Emmanuel College as an undergraduate. He later immigrates to America and, in 1639, re-endows the college which now bears his name, at Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1628

William Harvey of Gonville and Caius College publishes his celebrated treatise, De motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus, On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals, describing his discovery of the mechanism of blood circulation.

1675

Charles II appoints John Flamsteed to the new post of Astronomer Royal. The following year, Flamsteed, educated at Cambridge, institutes reliable observations at Greenwich, near London, providing data from which Newton is later able to verify his gravitational theory.

1687

Isaac Newton publishes 'Principia Mathematica', establishing the fundamental principles of modern physics.

1704

The Plumian chair of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy is endowed by Thomas Plume of Christ's College. Subsequent incumbents include Roger Cotes, Sir George Biddel Airy, who was responsible for the first public observatory in Cambridge, James Challis, Sir George Darwin, son of the naturalist Charles Darwin, Sir Fred Hoyle and Sir Martin Rees.

1776

Cambridge graduates, Thomas Nelson, Trinity and later of Virginia; Arthur Middleton, St John's and later of South Carolina and Thomas Lynch, Gonville and Caius and also of South Carolina, is among the signatories of America's Declaration of Independence.

1812

Charles Babbage, while an undergraduate at Peterhouse, has his first ideas for a calculating machine and later starts work on his 'difference engine', which he never completed but which heralds later inventions leading to the modern computer.

1831

Charles Darwin of Christ's is recommended by Botany Professor John Stevens Henslow to join HMS Beagle as the naturalist on its scientific survey of South American waters.

1851

The Natural Sciences Tripos is first examined, loosening the stranglehold of mathematics and classics on the syllabus, and opening the door to modern studies of the arts and sciences.

1870

William Cavendish, seventh Duke of Devonshire, endows the University's new Cavendish Laboratory for the study of experimental physics. Total cost: (pound)8,450.

1871

James Clerk Maxwell returns to Cambridge as the first Cavendish Professor of Physics. Two years afterwards he publishes his treatise on Electricity and Magnetism and later outlines his theory of electromagnetic radiation, confirming him as the leading theoretical physicist of the century.

1897

J.J. Thomson, Cavendish Professor of Physics, discovers the electron, laying the foundations for the whole of modern physics, including electronics and computer technology. In following years, inventors use his work to develop new devices such as the telephone, radio and television.

1903

Bertrand Russell, Fellow of Trinity, publishes `Principles of Mathematics', the same year as G.E. Moore publishes his influential 'Principia Ethica'. In 1913, Russell and A.N. Whitehead publish the even more influential 'Principia Mathematica'. It is another four decades before Russell collects his Nobel prize for Literature.

1906

J.J. Thomson collects his Nobel prize for Physics for his work on the electron.

1912

During a walk on the Backs, the young Lawrence Bragg gets the idea leading to his discovery of the mechanism of X-ray diffraction. Three years later, he shares his Nobel prize for Physics with his father, W.H. Bragg.

1929

Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins, Professor of Biochemistry, receives his Nobel prize for Physiology and Medicine for discovering vitamins. It was his work which gave rise to the study of a new subject, biochemistry, and inspired Sir Wiliam Dunn's trustees to endow the now world famous Sir William Dunn Institute of Biochemistry.

1932

The atom is split for the first time. The work, giving birth to the study of nuclear physics, is carried out by John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton, under the direction of Ernest Rutherford at the Cavendish Laboratory. Their Nobel prize for Physics is awarded in 1951.

1933

Professor Paul Dirac receives his Nobel prize for Physics. One of the founding fathers of quantum theory, basic to physics, chemistry and mathematics, Dirac also suggested the existence of antimatter, the positron being the first antiparticle to be discovered. Positron Emission Tomography is today a vital technique in many areas of medical diagnosis.

1934

Flight Lieutenant Frank Whittle is sent to Cambridge as a mature student by the RAF and enters Peterhouse. He is encouraged to pursue his innovative idea of jet propulsion, patented three years earlier but ignored by the Air Ministry.

The University Library moves to its new site across the River Cam, from where it expands to become the largest open access library in Europe and one of six copyright libraries in the British Isles.

1937

Dorothy Garrod becomes Disney Professor of Archaeology, the University's first woman professor. Her notable excavations at Mount Carmel cast new light on the origin of our own species, Homo Sapiens Sapiens, and our links to Neanderthal man.

1941

The first aeroplane to be powered by one of Frank Whittle's revolutionary new jet engines takes to the air.

1949

Maurice Wilkes develops the EDSAC, Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator, the first stored program digital computer to work successfully.

1953

Francis Crick and James Watson discover the structure of DNA, unlocking the secret of how coded information is contained in living cells and passed from one generation to the next - the secret of life. Their discovery opens the door to the study of an entirely new science genetics.

1958

Frederick Sanger of the University's Department of Biochemistry, wins the first of his two Nobel prizes for Chemistry for determining the specific sequence of the amino acid building blocks which form the protein insulin.

1960

Sir Charles Oatley, Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University's Department of Engineering, leads a team that develops the first scanning electron microscope, arguably the most important scientific instrument to be developed in the last 50 years. The instrument is later adapted to write the masks for today's electronic chips.

1962

Max Perutz establishes and directs the Medical Research Council's Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, a notable example of close working relations between the University and other leading research establishments.

Crick and Watson share the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine for their discovery of DNA with Maurice Wilkins of the University of London. At the same ceremony, Max Perutz and John Kendrew share the Nobel prize for Chemistry for solving the three dimensional structure of proteins the catalysts that perform most of the chemical reactions of life.

1968

Anthony Hewish and Jocelyn Bell make the most exciting recent observation in astrophysics by discovering pulsating stars or `pulsars' using Cambridge's Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory. Their work alters the course of modern cosmology.

The new stars provide unique physics laboratories for studying matter in extreme conditions, stimulating research into many new areas of physics. Hewish collects the Nobel Prize for Physics eight years later, sharing it with Sir Martin Ryle, Astronomer Royal, whose technique of aperture synthesis had made many of the observations possible.

1975

Trinity College, under the guidance of Dr John Bradfield, Senior Bursar, founds England's first science park on the outskirts of Cambridge.

1980

Dr Frederick Sanger, Fellow of King's, becomes the first person ever to win two Nobel prizes for Chemistry, this time for discovering how to determine the information encoded in DNA - DNA sequencing.

1982

Aaron Klug, of the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology, collects his Nobel prize for solving complex three dimensional structures including viruses and RNA molecules.

1985

Cesar Milstein, fellow of Darwin College, collects his Nobel prize for his work on monoclonal antibodies, the original `magic bullets'. His method of producing unlimited supplies of highly specific antibodies opens a new route for attacking unwanted cells such as cancers - revolutionising all aspects of medicine from pure research to drug design.

1988

Professor Stephen Hawking, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, publishes his book, 'A Brief History of Time' one of the best selling scientific books of all time. He is already eminent for his work on black holes and the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe.

1993

The Granta Backbone Network is completed, providing the University with on line computer links across Cambridge via a network of fibre optic cables running under the streets of the mediaeval city. The project allows the University to become an early site for connection to SuperJANET and Internet.

1995

Professor Sir Martin Rees, Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy, 1973-91, and a Royal Society research professor at Cambridge, follows in the footsteps of many of his predecessors by taking up his appointment as Astronomer Royal.

1996

The Institute of Biotechnology is awarded the Queen's Award for Technology for its work on protein purification.

1997

Microsoft Corporation establishes a new laboratory in the city of Cambridge, in co-operation with the University.

1998

Cambridge mathematicians Professor Richard Borcherds and Professor Tim Gowers win the Fields medal, perhaps the highest accolade that can ever be bestowed on a mathematician.