Thomas Edison. Henry Ford. Jack S. Kilby.

That’s right, Jack Kilby’s name should be spoken in the same breath with America’s most famous inventors and industrialists.

He invented the microchip in 1958, ushering in the age of transistor radios and, ultimately, supercomputers, which made possible everything from the Internet to space travel.

Over his career at Texas Instruments, Kilby obtained more than 60 patents on everything from the hand-held calculator to the thermal printer.

He died Monday in Dallas at 81.

He did little to seek publicity or noteriety for his inventions. He was said to be a quiet, unassuming man who rarely showed anger or stress.

Asked what he did after learning he had won the Nobel Prize in physics, he said simply, “I made coffee.”

That from a man who truly changed the world.