Jay Last is a silicon pioneer and a member of the Traitorous Eight that founded Silicon Valley.

He earned his Bachelor's degree in Optics at the University of Rochester in 1951 and his Ph.D. from MIT.

He worked at the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory division of Beckman Instruments, and left the company along with the rest of the Traitorous Eight to form the influential Fairchild Semiconductor corporation.

He later cofounded Amelco with Traitorous Eight alumni Jean Hoerni and Sheldon Roberts. Amelco became Teledyne, and Last served as a vice-president until his retirement.

He founded the Archeological Conservancy, which has preserved and protected over 150 archeological sites in 28 states in the US.

He is president of Hillcrest Press which publishes fine-art books on the history of Amerian painting.