Replica of the first transistor
I’m a little late posting this, but better late than never. And even if it isn’t better, I’m posting it anyway.
It’s hard to believe in these days of computers and iPhones, but the transistor, the basic core electrical component that enables these wonders, is 65 years old.
Bardeen, Shockley, and Brattain, 1948
Several people could claim to have invented the transistor, but December 16th, 1947 is generally recognized as the day on which John Bardeen and Walter Brattain, made the first working transistor at Bell Labs. In all honesty they probably weren’t the first to make a working transistor, nor was the device they made even called a transistor, the name wasn’t coined until a year later.
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- Julius Edgar Lilienfeld
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- Oscar Heil
The two notable names associated with transistor design before Bradeen and Brattain, were Julius Lilienfeld and Oskar Heil, both from Germany. These two, working separately, patented designs during the 1930s, but it appears they never created functioning examples.
At Bell Labs, William Shockley (who ran the Solid State Physics Group with Bardeen and Brattain as members) went on to perfect a simpler, smaller and more robust design just a year or two later. By 1952 Shockley’s design was in production and it became the basis for transistors for the next ten years.
Bell Labs licensed production of transistors to many organizations. One of them was a small Japanese company by the name of Sony, who went on to use the transistor (principally in radios) to began the whole consumer electronics market. Today a modern microprocessor uses about 3 billion transistors in each chip, and around 80 million transistors are made for each and every human being on the planet.
Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley went on to receive the Nobel Prize for physics. The transistor has gone on to new technologies, and devices exist today that were inconceivable 65 years ago, just as life today would be inconceivable without them.
Happy birthday dear transistor,
Happy birthday to you.
Cheers!
Wow,
Very interesting, Nigel.
Happy birthday dear transistor!
Hi CC
Happy birthday, indeed. Where would we be without it?
Hope you had a good new years 🙂
Cheers!
65 already? wow – it’s a fascinating time we live in Nigel and it is amazing to see the changes over time.
Hi Louise. Yes, the apparently rapid pace of developments makes it hard to believe that the things had been around that long.
Cheers!
I find a powerful message in this post, Nigel. What seems small at the time can be monumental in the future, and lay the foundation for the more profound. We never know the impact we can make.
Hi Sherry.
Yes, science and research turns up all sorts of things, and for most it is impossible to judge what their impact will be. Polymers lead to plastics, before then everything was made of metal and wood. Research is an expensive and inefficient process to some, but without it I’d be writing a reply on paper with a quill before mailing it back to you! And trust me, you don’t want to have to read my handwriting 🙂
Cheers!
How fascinating! I guess in the technology world, 65 years is a long time, but the progress boggles my mind (though I’m easily boggled).
But here’s something funny – apparently audiophiles are beginning to look at reviving audio equipment with the old tubes in it. Something about a cleaner signal than our current components? All I know is that Hubby’s old SABA radio is now a sought-after item. Go figure. 🙂
Hi Diane.
Yeah, valves are big in the audio world. People spend tens of thousands on high end valve amps. My dad had a whole bunch of special low power ones that could be run with batteries. They were beautiful to look at. I nearly cried when he cleared out his old radio stuff and they were gone 🙁
And just think, if valves are back in as they get older, maybe I’ll be sought after one day (by people other than the tax department!)
Cheers!
Weird, I posted a comment here but it disappeared. I had no idea transistors were actually that young. And if I had known it was around their birthday, I would have baked you a transistor-shaped cake.
Hello again! Apparently your previous comment was attached to the headline image. Perhaps the transistors are trying to exert their influence.
I like your thinking on 65 being young! I might start calling myself a teenager 🙂
Hope you had a good new year.
Cheers!
Very interesting, Nigel. Before the transistor, we used to have to run a string from the radio station to our house and tie it to a tin can. Darn strings kept breaking.
Hi David
I’m sure the string industry got itself in a knot over the transistor. I’m also reminded of a Monty Python sketch … “In out day we used to have to walk to school, uphill, both ways.”
Cheers!
Gotta love cool history like this, since my dad and brother are both electrical engineers. I’ve had to research details like this for my books, too (time travel and historical science fiction set in the early 20th century) – need to get the details right, i.e. did this specific technology exist in 19- -?
Hi Jennette.
I’m sure you’ve had to a lot of research for your books, esp if you’re going to get any peace of of those engineers!
Sometimes the changes between 1912 and 2012 are tiny (we still eat food made from practically the same ingredients) and at other times things are so different. It’s amazing to think that while Einstein et al were conjuring up relativity and quantum mechanics, they were doing it with blackboards and things made of metal and wood because plastic hadn’t even been invented. Weird.
Hope Hangar 18 is going well 🙂
Cheers!
I’m late to the celebration, Nigel!
I can’t blame it on the lowly beginnings to great heights transistor. Instead, I choose to blame it on:
1. An on-going argument I’m having with Windows 8 on my new computer
2. Quality playtime with Mr. Christmas — the lovely electronic device that talks to me and flashes lights in rhythm with Christmas carols I select.
3. Focused Googling for airfare and rental car options to feed my travel bug. California — from SF to Orange Country via the coastal highway is what’s toasting my marshmallows at the moment.
Oh, wait! None of those would be possible without the transistor. There you go. It’s the transistors own fault I’m late with the birthday cake.
Hi Gloria
I’m sure the transistor is very pleased with your googling and travel plans. They’re not so good with cake anyway, and they are incredibly patient, so being late’s no problem at all 🙂
As for windows, every version is argumentative! Hope you get it sorted out!
Cheers!
You failed to comment on Mr. Christmas.
He speaks with a British accent. I think he’s applied for citizenship in Australia as a result of that omission. I had to put him in his box and tape it shut to quell his plans to travel “down under.”
Your British flag ornament hangs with pride on my patriotic tree, btw. I LOVE it!
Sorry to hear about offending Mr Christmas. It is a shame that we can’t solve all our problems by putting people in a box and taping it shut! I will try harder next time.
Glad you got the flag. Are we going to see a picture on your blog one day?
Cheers!