Do you remember vacuum tubes? No, not something to help you sweep the floor, but rather the large, bulky, glass tubes which were housed inside of television sets, that were anything but flat! They were the electronic amplifiers which allowed the world the wonder of radio, television, and the first computers. The size and power demands of the vacuum tube created limits which engineers sought to overcome – we were never going to have the multitude of hand held computing devices, which we so now treasure and depend on, with vacuum tubes.
On December 23, 1947, the Bell Labs, in New Jersey introduced the first semi-conductor amplifier, made of silicon! By the late 1950’s silicon chips with microscopic transistors were created and the world we now know was assured through the genius of scientist who continued to perfect the technology and find new uses for the amazing integrated circuits.
The Life Millennium, Life Books, New York, New York, 1998
