Stanford Engineering Hero Ted Hoff honored as the principal architect of the microprocessor

Marcian “Ted” Hoff earned a standing ovation when he spoke about inventing the microprocessor during a recent event at which he was honored as a Stanford Engineering Hero.

Since its inception in 2010 the Heroes program has recognized Stanford engineers who have profoundly advanced human, social and economic progress through engineering.

Hoff is best known as the principal architect of the groundbreaking 4004 microprocessor that was released by Intel in 1971.

“I don’t think it’s any exaggeration to say that Ted’s work and all that it led to revolutionized modern life,” said Persis S. Drell, the Frederick Emmons Terman Dean of the Stanford School of Engineering and the James and Anna Marie Spilker Professor in the School of Engineering.

Drell introduced Hoff to the 300 students, faculty, alumni and friends who filled Nvidia Auditorium to attend the April 23 event held in his honor.

Hoff joins a select group of technology pioneers that includes Stanford’s visionary dean of engineering Frederick Terman, Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, and the founders of both Yahoo and Google.

“I’ve been called various things in my lifetime,” Hoff joked as he began his 45-minute remarks, including nerd and geek. “So being called a hero has a very nice ring to it. Thank you, Stanford!”

Stanford Engineering Hero Marcian "Ted" Hoff talks about the founders of Intel and how they contributed to the company's success. (Video: Stanford Engineering)

Hoff also separately recorded a 15-minute video interview in which he offered insights into the character of Intel’s founders, talked about the patent he earned as a teen and recalled how he became fascinated with electrical engineering.

Hoff became interested in electronics when his uncle gave him a subscription to Popular Science for his 12th birthday. From a catalogue advertised in the back of the magazine, he ordered a kit for building a short-wave radio. Not long after that, he used a cathode ray tube purchased from another catalogue to build an oscilloscope. And so the seeds were planted for a great career in electrical engineering.

At age 16, young Ted won a trip to Washington, DC, and a $400 scholarship from the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. Later, during summers away from college at Rensselaer Polytechnic, he worked for General Railway Signal Company, where he designed two circuits that produced his first two patents.

He came to Stanford in 1955 to get his master’s and then his PhD in electrical engineering, working with Professor Bernie Widrow – who was in the audience at the April 23rd Hero event.

Six years after completing his PhD, Hoff became employee number 12 at Intel. He was brought on board in 1968 by two technology legends: Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore, who together founded Intel and earlier had founded Fairchild Semiconductor, one of the foundational high-tech companies in Silicon Valley.

While trying to simplify chips for a calculator, Hoff came up with a solution that involved a single general-purpose processor chip rather than requiring many custom-designed circuits.

With co-inventors Federico Faggin and Stan Mazor, he created what turned out to be the revolutionary Intel 4004. The size of a fingernail, this microprocessor delivered the same computing power as the first electronic computer built in 1946, which filled an entire room.

Hoff was named the first Intel fellow, the highest technical position in the company. He has received numerous awards, including the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, which he shared with Faggin and Mazor, and the 2011 IEEE/RSE Wolfson James Clerk Maxwell Award. He has been named to the National Inventors Hall of Fame and is a Fellow of the Computer History Museum.

Tom Abate is the Associate Director of Communications for Stanford Engineering.