History of the transistor

The history of the transistor traces its invention at Bell Labs in 1947 and its evolution from a laboratory device into the basic switching and amplification element of modern electronics.

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John Bardeen: American physicist John Bardeen shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for research on semiconductors and the transistor effect. His surface-state explanation helped make the first point-contact transistor work.
Semiconductor: A material whose electrical conductivity lies between that of a conductor and an insulator and can be controlled by impurities or fields. Transistor action depends on controlling charge flow through semiconductor material.
Transistor radio: A portable radio receiver that uses transistors instead of vacuum tubes for amplification and signal processing. Consumer radios made the transistor's small size and low power visible in everyday life.
Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory: A semiconductor company founded by William Shockley in California in 1956. Departures from this laboratory helped seed Silicon Valley's semiconductor industry.
Germanium: A chemical element used as a semiconductor in early transistors and later in specialized electronic devices. Many first-generation transistors used germanium before silicon became the industry standard.
Walter Brattain: American physicist Walter Brattain co-invented the point-contact transistor at Bell Labs with John Bardeen. He built and tested the experimental device that demonstrated transistor action in December 1947.
Doping (semiconductor): The deliberate addition of impurities to a semiconductor to change its electrical properties. Doping creates the regions that let junction transistors control current.
Integrated circuit: An electronic circuit whose components are fabricated together on a single semiconductor chip. Integrating many transistors on one chip transformed electronics from assembly to large-scale fabrication.
Fairchild Semiconductor: An American semiconductor company founded in 1957 by the group known as the Fairchild Eight. Its manufacturing innovations and spin-offs helped establish the modern chip industry.
Silicon: A chemical element widely used as the semiconductor material in electronic devices and integrated circuits. Its thermal and manufacturing advantages helped it displace germanium in most transistor production.