Science/Economics paper by Gyékényesi, John P. and Iren
The Story of Andrew Stephen Grove - Mover of Intel Corporation and Pillar of Silicon Valley
Type of Abstract (select):Abstract (max. 250 words):
Grove was born András István Gróf in Budapest, Hungary in 1936. He is a science pioneer in the semiconductor industry, businessman, engineer, manager, and author. He escaped from Communist-controlled Hungary in 1956 and moved to the US where he finished his education. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the City College of New York in 1960 (graduated No.1 in class) and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of CA, Berkeley in 1963. After graduation, he worked for 5 years at Fairchild Semiconductor where he researched integrated circuits that eventually led to the microcomputer revolution in the 1970’s. In 1968 Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore (of Moore’s law fame) founded Intel and Andrew Grove joined them as the company’s first employee. He has been with Intel ever since, serving in various capacities including president in 1979, its CEO in 1987 and its Chairman and CEO in 1997. In 2004 he switched to being a senior advisor and lecturer at Stanford University.
Grove is credited with having transformed Intel from a maker of memory chips into a most dominant producer of microprocessors, with close to 100 000 employees. During his career, Intel became the model for Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley became the model for the world. And Grove became Time’s Man of the Year (1997) - an icon of the promise of American life.
His main slogan in approaching business, that is “Only the Paranoid Survive” grew out of his difficult life experiences. Other relatively new managerial concepts such as “strategic inflection point”, “constructive confrontation”, “knowledge power trumps position power” and the “devil is in the details” are also attributed to Grove’s innovative leadership style. These ideas guided him in making Intel’s death –defying climb to dominate the market for the world’s most important product in our digital information age. It can be safely said without hesitation that he is the best role model we have for doing business in the 21st century.
Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Dr. John P. Gyekenyesi is the Structures and Materials Division Engineer (retired) at the NASA Glenn Research Center and Adjunct Professor of Mechanics at Cleveland State University. He holds a bachelor and a master degree in Mechanical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and a Ph.D. in Mechanics from Michigan State University. He authored and coauthored more than 80 scientific publications. He lectured widely in the USA, Europe and the Far East, mainly on durability and structural integrity of aircraft and spacecraft using advanced materials. For 20 years, he was manager of one of NASA’s largest mechanics research departments, focused on propulsion and power systems.