Replies

AndrewC statement #1: Which, of course, makes my original statement, that a transistor was in a sense two diodes back-to-back, entirely correct.

AndrewC statement #2: I replied that putting two diodes back-to-back did not make a transistor.

Tell you what, as soon as you're done arguing with yourself, get back to us.

Meanwhile:

In the race for smaller and smaller electronic components, Man-Kit Ng, SM'97, PhD'02, and chemistry professor Luping Yu have made a gigantic leap forward. The pair created a molecular diode—an electrical component that conducts electricity in one direction—by chemically bonding two electrically opposed compounds made mostly of hydrogen and carbon, embedding them in a sheet only one molecule thick, and then transferring the sheet to a gold platform. The resulting diode, approximately 12 atoms wide, could be the first in a move toward smaller, simpler, and thus faster transistors—which are made by placing two diodes back to back.
University of Chicago Magazine, December 2002

In the race for smaller and smaller electronic components, Man-Kit Ng, SM'97, PhD'02, and chemistry professor Luping Yu have made a gigantic leap forward. The pair created a molecular diode—an electrical component that conducts electricity in one direction—by chemically bonding two electrically opposed compounds made mostly of hydrogen and carbon, embedding them in a sheet only one molecule thick, and then transferring the sheet to a gold platform. The resulting diode, approximately 12 atoms wide, could be the first in a move toward smaller, simpler, and thus faster transistors—which are made by placing two diodes back to back.

Yup, only humans and God can bend the rules of nature to make them do what they wish.

The resulting diode, approximately 12 atoms wide, could be the first in a move toward smaller, simpler, and thus faster transistors—which are made by placing two diodes back to back.

Yeah, right. So place two diodes back to back and see what you get. No amount of wishing is going to make it a transistor despite the incomplete use of words in a "technical" journal such as the University of Chicago magazine. It is a simple demonstration. Go to radio shack. Buy 2 1N4001 diodes. Twist their cathodes or anodes together(or any d*** way you please). Now try to make the contraption amplify a current like a transistor. Good luck.