Sherman Fairchild
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Sherman Mills Fairchild (b. April 7, 1896 in Oneonta, New York-d. 1971) was an inventor (with 30 patents) and serial entrepreneur who founded such companies as Fairchild Aviation, Fairchild-Strato, Fairchild-Hiller, Fairchild Recording, and Fairchild Camera and Instrument. His Fairchild Semiconductor company played a defining role in the development of Silicon Valley and its business culture. He was also a co-founder of Pan American Airlines and American Airlines.
His father was George Winthrop Fairchild, a Congressman and co-founder of IBM.
Sherman Fairchild matriculated at Harvard University in 1915 where, in his freshman year, he invented the flash camera. He also contracted tuberculosis. Under the advice of his physician, he moved to Arizona to recover in the drier climate and transferred his enrollment to the University of Arizona. There he learned about aerial photography. He would later transfer to Columbia University. To assist the military in World War I, he developed a new shutter mechanism for aerial cameras, although the war ended before he was finished. He successfully sold two high speed cameras in 1919 to the military. He lost $30,000 on the deal, but, undaunted by this setback, he left Columbia University to further develop the shutter technology and won sufficient military contracts to establish Fairchild Aerial Camera Corporation, the predecessor of Fairchild Camera and Instrument, on February 11, 1920.
His interests in aerial photography led in 1927 to the development of airplanes and the establishment of Fairchild Aviation, which sold thousands of airplanes. The first model featured two innovations: folding wings and an enclosed heated cabin. Fairchild airplanes would play major roles in the military, ferrying, freighting, and surveying industries prior to World War II, and an even bigger role during World War II [1] when over 8000 of the Fairchild PT-19 trainers were used by Air Force pilots. Other Fairchild planes included the AT-21 Gunner, the C-82 Packet, the C-119 Flying Boxcar used in the Korean War, and the C-123 Provider.
In 1957, eight men working for William Shockley at his seminal semiconductor company approached Fairchild Camera and Instrument to continue their research in solid-state transistors. This group, later branded by Shockley as the "Traitorous Eight", wanted to leave Shockley because of his poor management style. Sherman Fairchild agreed to back them financially, and thus Fairchild Semiconductor went on to become a leading force in Silicon Valley and an incubator which would spawn many of today's leading technology companies, such as Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, and National Semiconductor, which themselves would spawn other companies that spawned yet more other companies.
As a result of his achievements, he was awarded fellowships in the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences and in the Royal Aeronautical Society, as well as accolades by the Smithsonian Institution.
