Gurtej Sandhu is an Indian inventor who has more patents to his name than Thomas Edison. While Edison has 1,084 patents to his name, 58 year old Gurtej Sandhu has secured 1,325 patents and is 7th on the list of most prolific inventors worldwide, read the Wikipedia article here.
History is filled with many innovators and scientists who have redefined the way we live, work and function. Whether it’s Nikola Tesla’s work with electromagnetism, Rosalind Franklin’s contributions to DNA sequencing, or Alan Turing’s strides with artificial intelligence, the world’s best minds have spawned some important inventions and discoveries that have reshaped humanity.
Gurtej currently serves as Micron’s Vice President of Technology in addition to being a prolific inventor. So how did he get interested in these innovations? Gurtej, who was born in London to Indian parents, continued his studies in Electrical Engineering at IIT Delhi. Soon after, he went to the US to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to pursue a doctorate in Physics.
During his PhD, this 58-year-old man became interested and skilled in integrated circuits. This brought him two job offers, one from Texas Instruments and the other from Micron Technology, which at the time was battling government-subsidized memory chip makers in Japan and other countries.
Gurtej got his first few patents while he was working with Micron. He worked to defend Moore’s Law – a phenomenon that sees the number of transistors in the circuit field double every year.
He estimated how many memory units this chip could fit. Since his successful invention, chip manufacturers around the world have used and benefited from Gurtej’s patents.
Washington-based business publisher– Kiplinger recognizes his achievements:
Sandhu developed a method of coating microchips with titanium without exposing the metal to oxygen, which would damage the chips. At first, he didn’t think the idea was a big deal, but now most memory chip makers are using the process.
Because Gurtej worked with Micron during the time the patent was filed, the patent was owned by the company, while Gurtej and his colleagues who worked on them only received bonuses.
Also, over the last 15 years, Gurtej he has also been a technical and faculty advisor at Boise State University which has fostered a closer relationship with Micron.
Speaking to the Idaho Statesman about Gurtej mentoring, Will Hughes, Director of the Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering, said:
“He has incredible humility, especially considering the scale of the impact he has had. And he drives the pulse of emerging technology and emerging memory on a global scale. “
Not only did he get patents for his innovations, but he also raised Micron which along with its competitors in Korea, such as Samsung and SK Hynix accounts for 95 percent of the global DRAM market.
