Silicon Valley Tech Chronicles: Happy 40th Birthday Silicon Valley!

January 11, 2011 marks the 40th anniversary of the first appearance of the name Silicon Valley in print.

Under the headline SILICON VALLEY USA, journalist Don C. Hoefler wrote the first of a three-part series on the history of the semiconductor industry in the Bay Area. His behind the “scenes report of the men, money, and litigation which spawned” the industry appeared on page one of the industry tabloid Electronic News on Monday January 11, 1971.

Originally the moniker referred to the former agricultural area known as the “Valley of Heart’s Delight” that was rapidly being populated by silicon chip companies that spun out of Fairchild Semiconductor. Today it is synonymous with high-tech innovation worldwide to the degree that for many Silicon Valley is not a state of geography but a state of mind shared by entrepreneurs from Berlin to Bangalore.

Hoefler (1923-1986), entrepreneur Ralph Vaerst, and others have been credited with coining the Silicon Valley name. Contemporaries recall its earlier use by government officials visiting local defense-oriented electronic companies in the late 1960s, but no one really knows when it first found its way into the lexicon. Author Michael S. Malone suggests that Hoefler’s pioneering coverage of the Silicon Valley community as a collection of characters, dreamers, and eccentrics made him “the one that put the whole idea in our minds”.

Uncertainty over the date of first use is further compounded by an error on page one of the paper. The Electronic News masthead date carried over the year as 1970 from the prior issue although the inside pages correctly show 1971. Perhaps a premonition of the then brewing Year 2000 computer date debacle.

More on Silicon Valley History

Learn more about the people products and places that created this world renowned hotbed of technology and innovation. Visit this site regularly. Read Silicon Valley: Exploring the Communities behind the Digital Revolution available from amazon.com. Or download the iPhone app Silicon Valley Roots & Shoots from iTunes.