John Barden and The Transistors

599 Words2 Pages

In the modern world, we have many devices that help us with our daily lives. These devices include the cellular phone, the music player and many more but none of these devices would exist without the invention of the transistor. The transistor is essentially the most important device ever created. Not because of what it does but because of what size it is. The transistor is absolutely necessary for our day-to-day lives.
The transistor was invented by a man by the name of John Bardeen. He invented it because the vacuum tubes that, at the time, were in use and were quite bulky and would burn out quickly (Ward). The telephone company AT&T hired Bardeen and a team of scientists to solve this problem. Thusly, the transistor was born. The common position is that the transistor provided a perfect solution to the problem. They were composed of germanium instead of glass which could perform the same task without being so large or destructible (Ward). They can do this because the germanium is able to either be a conductor or not a conductor dependent on the temperature and also because it is a metalloid so it is not as easy to break (Computerhistory.org).
Later the germanium was replaced with silicon (ward). This allowed improved performance at higher temperatures (ward). The silicon necessary to work with was not developed until world war two (ward).
Within two years of the invention of the silicon transistor both GE and RCA had started the sales of the transistor (ward). Later many other hobbyist stores would too adopt the transistor (ward). These stores include but are not limited to Raytheon, Sylvania, and Phil co (ward). However, these stores were all well established before the transistor came around (ward). ...

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...an be. Maybe someday we will have music players that set only in your ears and are controlled by brain waves without the need of physical contact. It may be that on that day we find new micro technologies allowing us to not have to even see our electronics but they are one with us. However, until that day we have the transistor as king of all technologies here in America.

Works Cited

. "Bell Labs Licenses Transistor Technology." ComputerHistory.org. N.p., 2007. Web. 18 Feb 2014. .

Ward, Jack. "Semiconductor museum." Semiconductormuseum.com. N.p., 2009. Web. 20 Feb 2014. .

. "Transistorized." PBS.org. Pbs, 1999. Web. 20 Feb 2014. .

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