Posted on 12/15/2007 7:01:52 AM PST by shrinkermd
...A transistor is a little electronic switch capable of amplifying electric current, invented by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley at Bell Labs in New Jersey on Dec. 16, 1947. They jury-rigged the first transistor using a paper clip, some germanium and gold foil, and found that it boosted electrical current a hundredfold. They kept the discovery to themselves for a bit, and showed their bosses the device just before Christmas. Bardeen, Brattain and Shockley won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1956.
...To put it in economic terms, if the price of an automobile had kept pace with the price drop of a transistor, we would be paying less for a car than for a slice of pizza.
In the next few years, the question is whether the semiconductor industry can sustain this relentless progress. Further shrinking transistors is proving problematic as certain fundamental physical barriers are being reached. At the same time, new frontiers are opening up. The quest is on to create efficient transistors that use and boost light instead of electricity, which will enable much faster processing speeds.
So on its 60th birthday, answer your cellphone, boot up your computer, flip on your iPod -- and in the process, toast the incredible transistor, the humble electronic switch that, in two human generations, has forever changed how we live, work and play.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
To put it in political terms, if the price government had kept pace with the price drop of a transistor, democrats would be able to deliver what they promise for the of pizza.
Perhaps the single most influential invention of the 20th century.
Cost decline with shrinking physical size. Time to shrink gov’t.
I'll second that.
IC bump
You don't suppose that they were contemplating keeping the idea (and profit) for themselves?
Moore-on’s Law - The number of bureaucrats that can fit inside the DC beltway increases exponentially.
But’s let’s also not forget the triode, the world’s first electrical amplifier and switch - which celebrates its 100th Anniversary next year.
It was the triode which allowed the creation of the first radios, televisions, and yes, even computers.
Right up there with the telephone, automobile, airplane, television...
Talk about a Gorejus source of power!
I think that the atomic bomb had the greatest ‘impact’.
He was hired by Western Electric and in 1921, (or thereabouts), participated in the first Transcontinental Telephone call that was made possible by those new fangled vacuum tube amplifiers.
He retired in 1966 with a healthy portfolio of ATT stock. He moved to Texas after his wife passed and lived with his daughter. He was a high school teacher who taught night classes for those kidswho had dropped out and now needed a GED. He felt that in his small way he was "giving back"!
He was a real "live wire" who amplified his talents and broadcast his feelings!!
ooooh!
profiteering is evil capitalism.
/s
Reverse engineered from the Roswell wreckage of July 1947?....I’m just sayin’.
Oh come on now... We all know that Bell Labs didn’t “invent” the transistor! They reverse engineered it from the wreckage of an alien spacecraft. It was in all the papers!
Mark
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.