Departures

Gordon Moore

A businessman and inventor whose name became a byword for rapid innovation, Moore died at his home in Hawaii on March 24. He was 94. After earning a Ph.D. in chemistry and physics from the California Institute of Technology, Moore began work in the nascent semiconductor industry. In 1965, he penned an essay speculating the number of transistors in an integrated circuit would double every year, later revised to every other year. Moore’s Law, as it became known, served as a growth benchmark for the semiconductor industry and helped set the stage for the information revolution. In 1968, Moore helped co-­found the computer chip manufacturer Intel and served as its CEO from 1979 to 1987.

Nigel Lawson

Lawson, a grandee of the U.K.’s Conservative Party who helped usher through transformational change in two distinct eras, died April 3. He was 91. Lawson won a seat in the House of Commons in 1974, quickly rising through the ranks. In 1983, he became Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s chancellor to the exchequer, helping implement vast and sweeping ­economic reforms. But by 1989, policy ­differences led Lawson to resign from the Thatcher government, weakening the prime minister in the process. By 2016 he had joined the House of Lords and became chairman of the successful Vote Leave campaign to end the U.K.’s involvement in the European Union.