Transistors, 1948

NY Times ^ | September 1, 2009 | By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

[neverdem]

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first time the word “transistor” appeared in print was in The New York Times on July 1, 1948, in a Page 46 roundup headed “The News of Radio.”

The unsigned article opened with a report of two new radio shows, one called “Mr. Tutt,” and the other titled “Our Miss Brooks,” “with Eve Arden playing the role of a school teacher who encounters a variety of adventures.” The column’s last item began, “A device called a transistor, which has several applications in radio where a vacuum tube ordinarily is employed, was demonstrated for the first time yesterday.”

There followed a technically accurate description of the gadget, a small metal cylinder consisting of two fine wires connected to a tiny piece of semi-conductive material soldered to a metal base. The transistor, it said, was used as an amplifier in a radio receiver “which contained none of the conventional tubes.”

But the first transistors did not work well, and it was not until Jan. 1, 1952, that an article — on Page 30, by William Laurence — reported on the development of a new and more practical “junction transistor.” On Dec. 30, 1952, an unsigned article on Page 29 described the first consumer product to use transistors: a hearing aid produced by the Sonotone Corporation...

[NCjim]

I remember 6H6, 6AG7, and other vacuum tubes from my childhood. Interesting that the things we love we remember forever.

Here's a great link for those interested in early radios and their parts:

Antique Radios

[AlexW]

Yes, I know most the tubes, up to the 4-1000, the workhorse
of my RF amps.
I miss those good old days of radio and electronics, hanging out in the parts/ham equipment stores, and the military surplus yard.

De W4EX

[TheGeezer]

I’d always heard it was the integrated circuit that we stole from extraterrestrial aliens.

[Marine_Uncle]

Some of us are sure showing our age. Heheh.