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Biographical information on John
Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley, and more of the history
behind the transistor. |
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By
Mary
Bellis
The transistor is an influential
invention that changed the course of history for computers. The first generation
of computers used vacuum
tubes; the second generation of computers used transistors; the third
generation of computers used integrated
circuits; and the fourth generation of computers used microprocessors.
John Bardeen, William Shockley, and
Walter Brattain, scientists at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray
Hill, New Jersey, were researching the behavior of crystals (germanium)
as semi-conductors in an attempt to replace vacuum tubes as mechanical
relays in telecommunications. The vacuum tube, used to amplify music and
voice, made long-distance calling practical, but the tubes consumed power,
created heat and burned out rapidly, requiring high maintenance.
The team's research was about to
come to a fruitless end when a last attempt to try a purer substance as
a contact point lead to the invention of the "point-contact" transistor
amplifier. In 1956, the team received the Nobel Prize in Physics for the
invention of the transistor.
A transistor is a device composed
of semi-conductor material that can both conduct and insulate (e.g. germanium
and silicon). Transistors switch and modulate electronic current. Before
transistors, digital circuits were composed of vacuum tubes. [Read the
ENIAC
story to learn all about the disadvantages of vacuum tubes in computers.]
The transistor was the first device designed to act as both a transmitter,
converting sound waves into electronic waves, and resistor, controlling
electronic current. The name transistor comes from the 'trans' of transmitter
and 'sistor' of resistor.
John Bardeen and Walter Brattain
took out a patent for their transistor. William Shockley applied for a
patent for the transistor effect and a transistor amplifier. Transistors
transformed the world of electronics and had a huge impact on computer
design. Transistors made of semiconductors replaced tubes in the construction
of computers. By replacing bulky and unreliable vacuum tubes with transistors,
computers could now perform the same functions, using less power and space.
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Eckert and John Mauchly - The UNIVAC
artwork©marybellis
original
photos©"army photos"
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