Crystal Fire: The Invention of the Transistor and the Birth of the Information AgeOn December 16, 1947, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain, physicists at Bell Laboratories, jabbed two electrodes into a sliver of germanium. The power flowing from the germanium far exceeded what went in; in that moment the transistor was invented and the Information Age was born. No other devices have been as crucial to modern life as the transistor and the microchip it spawned, but the story of the science and personalities that made these inventions possible has not been fully told until now. Crystal Fire fills this gap and carries the story forward. William Shockley, Bell Labs' team leader and co-recipient of the Nobel Prize with Brattain and Bardeen for the discovery, grew obsessed with the transistor and went on to become the father of Silicon Valley. Here is a deeply human story about the process of invention -- including the competition and economic aspirations involved -- all part of the greatest technological explosion in history. The intriguing history of the transistor -- its inventors, physics, and stunning impact on society and the economy -- unfolds here in a richly told tale."--Science News "Thoroughly accessible to lay readers as well as the techno-savvy. . . . [A] fine book."--Publishers Weekly |
Contents
DAWN OF AN AGE | 1 |
BORN WITH THE CENTURY | 11 |
THE REVOLUTION WITHIN | 28 |
INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH SCIENCE | 55 |
THE PHYSICS OF DIRT | 71 |
THE FOURTH COLUMN | 88 |
POINT OF ENTRY | 115 |
MINORITY VIEWS | 142 |
CALIFORNIA DREAMING | 225 |
THE MONOLITHIC IDEA | 254 |
Epilogue | 276 |
Acknowledgments | 287 |
Interviews and Conversations | 290 |
Bibliography | 292 |
Notes | 303 |
Credits | 335 |
Other editions - View all
Crystal Fire: The Birth of the Information Age Michael Riordan,Lillian Hoddeson Limited preview - 1997 |
Crystal Fire: The Invention of the Transistor and the Birth of the ... Michael Riordan,Lillian Hoddeson No preview available - 1998 |
Common terms and phrases
Accn amplifier applied April AT&T atoms Bardeen and Brattain barrier became Becker Beckman began behavior Bell Labs Bell System Bell's Bohr Bown Brattain 1964a breakthrough copper crystal detectors Davisson December device diffusion diode early elec electrons Emmy energy experiments Fairchild Folder germanium Gibney holes ibid idea impurities industry integrated circuits invention January John John Bardeen junction transistor June Kelly Kilby lab notebook laboratory Lark-Horovitz later Lillian Hoddeson manufacturing metal military month Moore Morita Morton Murray Hill N-type Nobel notebook Noyce P-N junctions patent Pearson Pfann physicists point-contact transistors problem production proximity fuzes Purdue quantum mechanics radar radio recalled Riordan Scaff scientists and engineers Seitz September Shockley Shockley's signals silicon solid-state physics Sparks STAN surface switching Teal telephone Texas Instruments theory tiny tion vacuum tubes voltage W. H. Brattain Walter Walter Brattain wave Western Electric wires wrote X-rays