[_Jim]

He had beaten a huge raft of teams around the world to the discovery of the first non-silicon-based transistor.

The first nanotechnology non-silicon-based transistor maybe?

I'm not up to speed with what what the nano-guys are up to, but Germanium (and other Group III and IV elements such as Indium) are suitable semiconductors for making 'transistors' - and have been made into transistors at times in the past (esp. Germanium - some materials are more suitable then others for various reasons or are easier to work with during the 'fabrication' process) ...

[Flightdeck]

Actually, the Germanium is just doped into the silicon. the most Ge that goes in is about 10^15 atoms per square centimeter. That sounds like a lot, but it is waaay less than 1% of the bulk.