The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation (65 page)

BOOK: The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation
4.3Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

Kelly and, 157–62, 307

Sandia Labs, 159–61, 271

World War I, 28, 29, 60

World War II,
see
World War II

Miller, Stewart, 258

Millikan, Robert, 14–16, 27, 28, 38, 43, 61, 144, 168, 192

Jewett and, 16–17, 22, 24

Kelly and, 16

oil-drop experiment of, 15–16, 22, 152, 267

missiles, 248

Nike, 160–61, 164, 182

MIT, 38, 68

Shannon as professor at, 145–47, 317–18, 319

Shockley as student at, 54–55, 56, 88

transistors and, 105–6

mobile phones, 3, 131, 227, 233–34, 279–83, 284, 286–97, 335

Molnar, Julius, 236–37, 262, 263–64, 266–68

Monarch,
178, 179

Moore, Gordon, 181, 251, 290, 308–9

Moore, H. R., 96

Moore’s law, 308

Morse, Philip, 55, 71

Morse, Samuel F. B., 224

Morton, Jack, 108–9, 110, 112, 113, 116, 152, 163, 168, 170, 197, 210, 223, 250, 252, 253, 267, 311–13

Morton triode, 197

Motorola, 279–80, 295–96, 297

music, computer, 225, 244, 325–27

NASA, 208, 210–11, 215–17, 220, 221, 224, 248

National Academy of Sciences, 306, 311, 344

National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), 247, 261

National Security Agency (NSA), 147, 246, 247, 249, 342

Nature,
338

NCR, 333

Netscape, 334

New Scientist,
247

New Yorker,
192, 196, 242

New York Times,
31, 62, 64, 199, 222, 224, 233, 273, 301, 302, 337, 356

New York World’s Fair, 228–31, 262

Nike missiles, 160–61, 164, 182

Nobel Prize, 2, 14, 37, 43, 56, 181–82, 184, 244, 317, 322, 331, 355

noise, 292

Noll, Mike, 237, 243

Noyce, Robert, 181, 251, 252–54, 262, 290

nuclear weapons, 51, 59–60, 65–66, 74, 104, 159, 160, 356

Nyquist, Harry, 135

Odlyzko, Andrew, 334

Ohl, Russell, 84–85, 86

oil-drop experiment, 15–16, 22, 152, 267

Oliver, Barney, 126, 197, 319, 323, 358

O’Neill, Eugene, 221, 222

Oppenheimer, Robert, 155, 157

Organization Man, The
(Whyte), 184

oscillating elements, 97, 104

O’Sullivan, William, 210

Packard, Dave, 308

pagers, 229, 287–88

Paine, Thomas, 12

patents, 46, 57, 98

licensing of, 182–83, 186, 251, 270

Nyquist and, 135

for telephone, 17–18, 98

for transistor, 97–100, 107, 111

PCM (pulse code modulation), 126–27, 129, 197, 234–35, 323

Pearson, Gerald, 87, 88, 91, 96, 112, 166, 171, 172, 316

Pfann, Bill, 114, 134

photography, digital, 261

photolithography, 251, 254

Physical Review,
100

Pickering, William, 210

Picturephone, 229–31, 233, 235, 236, 260, 262–65, 279, 289, 296, 333

Pierce, John, 2, 3, 38–39, 189–204, 212–13, 225–27, 232, 234, 238, 242, 246, 247, 249, 253, 265, 267, 273, 278, 285, 297, 300, 304, 311, 323–27, 332, 343, 344, 348–50, 352, 357–60

antitrust suit and, 273–74

Baker and, 238, 243–44

Brattain and, 197

at Caltech, 191–93, 324, 325

“Don’t Write: Telegraph,” 202–3

early life of, 191–92

How to Build and Fly Gliders,
189, 190, 192, 200

Japan Prize awarded to, 359

Kelly and, 195–96, 306–7, 345–46

lasers and, 255, 256, 258, 276

mobile phones and, 282–83

music and, 225, 244, 325–27

New York World’s Fair and, 228–31

Parkinson’s of, 323

Picturephone and, 230

retirement of, 267

satellite work of, 203–4, 205, 207–27, 228, 254

Shannon and, 196–97, 201, 225, 318, 323–24

Shockley and, 194–95, 197, 225

traveling wave tube and, 198–201, 202, 205–6, 207–8, 210

Wells and, 201–2

writing career of, 200–201, 202–3

Piore, Emmanuel, 306

plasma physics, 257

Playboy,
314

Poe, Edgar Allan, 124

Pollak, Henry, 123, 238, 239–40

Porter, Phil, 286, 287–88, 291, 294, 295

President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB), 247, 248

pulse code modulation (PCM), 126–27, 129, 197, 234–35, 323

Purdue University, 97, 100, 105

quantum mechanics, 42, 55, 81, 202

Quarles, Donald, 50

quartz, 51, 62

Rabi, Isidor Isaac, 43, 207

radar, 60, 64–67, 71, 73, 86, 134, 157, 195, 270, 294

Distant Early Warning line, 161, 182

magnetron and, 67–69, 70, 71

radio, 27, 47, 66–67, 76, 177, 255, 258, 279–80, 290, 292, 294

astronomy, 106

Raytheon, 163

RCA, 163, 251, 303, 348

Reader’s Digest,
178

Rice, Steve, 357

Ring, Doug, 281–82, 286

Riordan, Michael, 105, 354

Ross, Ian, 180, 221, 239, 245, 250–53, 270–71, 301, 309, 314, 327

Ross, Pearley, 53

Rowell, John, 154

rubber, 82, 242–43

Saarinen, Eero, 284–85

Sandia Labs, 159–61, 271

satellites, 203–4, 205, 207–27, 261

Communications Satellite Act and, 224

Echo, 212–20, 221, 222, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 244, 254, 323, 340

Explorer, 208

Sputnik, 208

Telstar, 220, 221–24, 225, 226, 228, 229, 340

Scaff, Jack, 84, 85, 86

Schawlow, Arthur, 254–55, 257

Schon, J. Hendrik, 337

Schrödinger, Erwin, 37

Schwartz, G. E., 63–64

Science,
331

Scientific American,
127, 137, 138, 200, 258, 321

Seattle, Century 21 Exposition in, 228–29

Seitz, Fred, 54–55, 245, 309

semiconductors, 83–86, 87, 90, 92–95, 97, 99, 101, 102, 151, 163, 169, 251–52, 276

Moore’s law and, 308

chips, 252–53, 308

Shannon, Betty, 133, 137, 138–39, 145, 146, 147, 318, 321, 322–23

Shannon, Claude Elwood, 2–3, 115–35, 136–48, 150, 184, 185, 226, 232, 234, 242, 243, 247, 250–51, 267, 292, 317–23, 341, 342, 350, 357

Alzheimer’s of, 322, 323

Baker and, 244

bust of, 340

in California, 146–47

chess program of, 136, 137–38, 143, 322

computing and, 117–18, 136–44

cryptography and, 124–25, 131, 141, 147

death of, 322

information theory of, 125, 128–30, 135, 136, 141, 142, 149, 151, 185–86, 202, 281, 318–19

juggling of, 145, 147, 148, 319–21, 323

Kyoto Prize awarded to, 322

labs named after, 335

letters to, 141, 147–48

master’s thesis of, 118, 123

as MIT professor, 145–47, 317–18, 319

as part-time employee at Bell Labs, 148

Pierce and, 196–97, 201, 225, 318, 323–24

radio interview with, 136–37

resignation from Bell Labs, 146, 147

stock market and, 319

Theseus Mouse project of, 138–40, 141, 323

ultimate machine of, 142–43

unfinished and unpublished papers of, 146, 323

unicycles of, 145

Shewhart, Walter, 49–50

Shive, John, 103

Shockley, Emma, 313

Shockley, William, 2, 38, 40, 41, 43, 44, 52–58, 59–60, 63, 68, 69, 71–74, 79, 81, 88, 89, 92, 95, 96, 108, 133, 134, 136, 149, 151, 163, 185, 186, 242, 266, 267, 285, 307–15, 317, 342, 347, 357, 358

amplifier work of, 57–58

at ASWORG, 71–72

Baker and, 313–14

at Caltech, 53–54, 192

as consultant at Bell Labs, 311–13

death of, 315

early life of, 53–54, 100–101

Electrons and Holes in Semiconductors,
112

Elmendorf and, 312

“field effect” theory of, 90–91, 92, 101

Fisk and, 234, 313

Kelly and, 56

at MIT, 54–55, 56, 88

Morton and, 311–13

Murray Hill complex and, 75, 76

Nobel Prize awarded to, 2, 181–82, 244

Pierce and, 194–95, 197, 225

racial theories of, 2, 309–15

resignation from Bell Labs, 180–82, 307

solid-state work of, 43, 79, 83, 86–90, 92, 102, 103, 112

transistor work of, 99–105, 107, 110, 111, 115–16, 134, 135, 166–67, 168, 316

Shockley Semiconductor, 180–81, 225, 244–45, 251, 290, 308–9, 310, 314, 346

Shurkin, Joel, 72, 315

silicon, 83–86, 87, 93–95, 166–72, 252

diffused, 169–70, 171, 254

solar battery, 4, 170–72, 206, 208

Silicon Valley, 181, 308, 346–48

Singleton, Henry, 319

Skaade, Helvar, 54

Slepian, David, 132, 141, 143, 148, 357

Smith, Walter Bedell, 141

solar battery, 4, 170–72, 206, 208

solid circuits, 253

solid-state physics, 43, 79, 80, 81, 86–91, 92, 102, 103, 105, 112, 134, 150–51

Sommerfeld, Arnold, 42

sonar, 65

Soviet Union, 246–47

Sputnik satellite of, 208

Sparks, Morgan, 110

Sputnik, 208

Stanford University, 181

steam engine time, 289

Stibbitz, George, 123

stimulated emission, 206–7, 254

submarines, 71, 80, 88

Sullivan, Mark, 174

Summit University, 347

surface states, 92–93

switching, 52, 97, 117, 118, 123, 136, 155, 232, 250, 252, 339

electronic, 229, 231–34, 235, 260, 261, 290–91

Szilard, Leo, 60

Tanenbaum, Morris, 166–70, 181, 251, 253–54, 299, 300, 302, 351–52

TASI (Time Assignment Speech Interpolation), 183–84

TAT-1, 175–80

Teal, Gordon, 86–87, 109–10, 168

Telecommunications Act, 328–29

Teledyne, 319

telegraph, 126, 224, 260

telephones, 17–19, 126, 134, 155, 260, 263

carbon granules in, 12, 20

diaphragms in, 82

long-distance calling, 20–24, 33–34, 37, 47, 173–74, 175–80, 229

mobile, 3, 131, 227, 233–34, 279–83, 284, 286–97, 335

outdoor equipment for, 50

patent for, 17–18, 98

PCM and, 126–27, 129

problems with, 47–48

sheathing on cables for, 242

touch-tone buttons on, 229, 233

transatlantic service, 37, 175–80, 183–84, 203, 205, 211

Teletype, 49

television, 220, 283

Telstar, 220, 221–24, 225, 226, 228, 229, 340

Temin, Peter, 269

Terman, Frederick, 181, 347

Tesla, Nikola, 12

Texas Instruments, 251, 252

Theseus, 138–40, 141, 323

Theurer, Henry, 84, 85

THROBAC, 142

Time,
140, 165, 308, 333

Tomkins, Calvin, 196

Tordella, Louis, 249

Townes, Charles, 39–40, 41, 43, 60–61, 206–7, 254

laser work of, 254–55, 257

stimulated emission work of, 206–7

transatlantic phone cable, 37, 175–80, 183–84, 203, 205, 211

transistors, 3, 4, 98–114, 115–16, 127–28, 134, 135, 140, 150–51, 155, 163–72, 179, 180, 183, 185–86, 197, 207, 229, 244, 245, 250–53, 281, 308, 315–16, 341, 343, 349, 359

junction, 102–4, 107, 110, 111, 134

licensing of technology for, 112

Moore’s law and, 308

naming of, 98, 197

Nobel Prize for work on, 181–82, 244

patents for, 97–100, 107, 111

point-contact, 102–4, 107–8, 110, 112

quality of, 253

tyranny of numbers and, 252

unveiling of, 104–5, 127

traveling wave tube (TWT), 198–201, 202, 205–6, 207–8, 210

Truman, Harry, 157, 158, 160, 245

Tukey, John, 129, 151, 246

2001: A Space Odyssey,
197

tyranny of numbers, 252

underwater cables, 37, 81–82

University of California, 159

University of Chicago, 14

Unix, 261, 346

uranium, 51, 59–60, 68

vacuum tubes, 23, 33–36, 37, 52, 57, 67, 80, 82, 93, 97–99, 105, 107–8, 110, 113, 164, 176, 183, 194, 195, 250, 349

traveling wave, 198–201, 202, 205–6, 207–8, 210

Vail, Theodore, 18–20, 24, 27, 30, 45, 272, 275

transcontinental phone service and, 21, 22

Van Vleck, John, 42

venture economy, 347–48

Von Mehren, Robert, 304, 306

Walbridge, Mabel, 168

Walker, Larry, 70

Wall Street Journal,
337

Waters, Ernie, 193

Watson, Thomas A., 23–24

Watson, Thomas J. (Jr.), 305

Watt, James, 289

waveguides, 235–36, 258–62

wavelengths, 235–36, 254–55

Webb, James, 248, 305

Wells, H. G., 201–2

Wen Jiabao, 344

Western Electric, 25–27, 28, 31, 33, 158, 161, 298, 299, 301, 331, 335, 353

Bell Telephone Laboratories,
see
Bell Telephone Laboratories

Depression and, 36

military and, 157–58

White, Addison, 43–44, 56, 79, 102–3

Whyte, William, 184

wicked problems, 4, 355

Wiener, Norbert, 142

Wiesner, Jerome, 248

Wiley, Richard, 302

Willis-Graham Act, 31

Wilson, Leroy, 158, 160

wireless transmission, 27

Woolridge, Dean, 38, 41, 43, 44, 54, 79, 192

World War I, 28, 29, 60

World War II, 58, 59–74, 75, 81, 126, 149, 160, 198, 243, 270

gun firing control in, 123–24, 157

World Wide Web, 334

Young, Rae, 281–82, 286

zone refining, 114

Zuckerman, Harriet, 316

Zwicky, Fritz, 54

THE FIRST IDEA FACTORY:
Western Electric’s former headquarters on West Street in lower Manhattan, which in 1925 became the original home of Bell Labs. Kelly, Shockley, Pierce, Fisk, and Shannon all began their careers at the building; after the war, the men, along with the Labs’ most important research projects, moved to New Jersey.
Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center

Bettmann/Corbis

BELL LABS’ EARLY ARCHITECTS:
Robert Millikan served as a friend and advisor to Bell Labs’ first president, Frank Jewett, pictured in 1938, as well as a mentor to Mervin Kelly, photographed here soon after his arrival at Western Electric in 1917. After making a name for himself at the University of Chicago, Millikan became president of Caltech.

Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center

Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center

AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives,
Physics Today
Collection

In 1915, Theodore Vail, AT&T’s chairman, listens in on the first transcontinental phone conversation—connecting New York with San Francisco—from his vacation home on Jekyll Island, Georgia.

AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives
, Physics Today
Collection

Photograph by Parker Studio, Courtesy of AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives

TWO YOUNG TURKS:
Portraits of a young William Shockley and his friend from MIT, Jim Fisk. “If that man gets hired,” Shockley once said of Fisk, “we’ll all be working for him in ten years.” His prediction proved correct. B
ELOW:
Building 1 on the Murray Hill, New Jersey, campus, just after World War II. Kelly considered the design of the building—where research scientists and development engineers from all disciplines were housed together in close proximity—yet another grand Bell Labs invention.

Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center

TRIUMPHS OF A MAGIC MONTH:
A crucial page from the December 24, 1947, entry in Walter Brattain’s notebook, the ur-text of the transistor’s genesis; next to it, the first transistor. The germanium metal slab under the arrowhead is about one quarter the size of a penny.

Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center

The solid-state triumvirate in Brattain’s cluttered Murray Hill laboratory: from left to right, Walter Brattain, William Shockley, and John Bardeen.

Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center

Other books

Tessa Ever After by Brighton Walsh
Dare Truth Or Promise by Paula Boock
Dark Wolf by Christine Feehan
Koshi by Annie Nicholas
Honeybee Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Promised Land by Brian Stableford