Why is Jack Kilby credited with the idea of the integrated circuit?

Jack Kilby is credited with the invention of the integrated circuit because he independently conceived the "monolithic idea" while working at Texas Instruments in 1958.12

Kilby realized that instead of connecting separate electronic components with awkward wiring, an entire electronic assembly—including transistors, resistors, and capacitors—could be fabricated as a single unit on a piece of semiconductor material. He successfully demonstrated this concept by creating a working prototype made from germanium and filed a patent for this "miniaturized electronic circuit" in early 1959.12

While Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor independently developed a similar concept using a different manufacturing procedure, the courts eventually recognized Kilby for the original idea of the integrated circuit, while Noyce was credited with the planar manufacturing process that utilized conductive metal lines to connect components. Both men are widely acknowledged as co-inventors of the technology that made the Information Age possible.231