History of the Transistor
Videos for Engineers

A few days ago Bob Davis sent me a link to a YouTube video documentary, "Transistorized," of the development of the transistor. It was originally produced in 1989. Narrator Mr. Ira Flatow begins by saying that the story behind the transistor, arguably one of the most important inventions of the 20th century, was one of "clashing egos and top secret research." Anyone familiar with the collaborative effort of Drs. John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter Brattain, at Bell Telephone Laboratories (aka Bell Labs) knows of the strain between them at times. I will not attempt to embellish the huge amount of information presented; you will get all you want to know from the film.

As you might expect, in addition to the "Transistorized" video there are other videos telling the story of the transistor's history. A couple really good ones are also embedded below. One covers Japan's successful climb to the top of the electronics product food chain based on their early adoption of transistors into many common household and commercial items. Another was done in 1953, only a handful of years after the 1947 pre-Christmas announcement of the transistor's invention. Of course there are also people who claim the Bell Labs Trio were not the first to build a semiconductor junction transistor, so one of those videos is included as well.