Although this is another in what might easily be seen as a tiresome litany of
anniversaries, today, December 16, is the 50th anniversary of what has been
said to be one of the most important events in the history of humanity -- and
certainly the most important of this century: the invention of the transistor.
There are dozens of web sites devoted to the history of the transistor (named
that as a shortened form of "transfer resistor"), but one of the best and
shortest web pages is at:
http://www.chips.ibm.com/microdesign/looking.html
It was on this day 50 years ago that the transistor was clearly made to work
by three physicist/engineers employed at Bell Labs: John Bardeen, Walter
Brattain, and William Shockley. On the 25th anniversary of the transistor's
invention, Brattain said that he was deeply honored and humbled to have been
associated with something that had so revolutionized the world -- but the
world of transistorization in 1972 was nothing compared to that that exists
now -- or will yet come to exist.
Some of us on this list have undoubtedly had the pleasure to speaking with
Walter Brattain, now deceased, at some length. Brattain retired and taught at
Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, a long-time HP3000 user, and former home
of Wayne Holt and still home to Gary Dietz. In my one trip to Whitman College,
Dr. Brattain was home sick the days I was there. His secretary urged me to
visit him at home, but I declined. I've always regretted that decision.
When Bardeen, Brattain and Shockley presented their first paper on the
transistor a half year later, in 1948, not one question was asked from the
audience. That stony silence has been a somewhat common theme for great works.
When Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace presented their papers to the
Linnean Society of London in 1858, quite similarly not one question was asked
from the audience.
It's important to remember stories like these the next time you give a talk.
If you get the same response, you may be onto something truly monumental.
Wirt Atmar
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