Silicon Earth: A Historical Perspective on the Invention/Discovery of the Transistor
John D. Cressler · IEEE Electron Devices Magazine · 2023
This article traces the history to the invention/discovery of the transistor. Seventy-six years of the transistor. My, my, time flies. Such a remarkable little piece of quantum physics in action. The transistor was invented/discovered on 16 December 1947, then introduced to the world on 23 December 1947[2], an Earth-changing moment. It was roughly the size of your thumbnail. In 2023, transistors are virtual sized and speed-of-light fast, and, importantly, they cleverly possess, just like the original, that unique golden attribute of amplification, making tiny voltages and currents larger. There are over 1024transistors on Earth in 2023, made possible by the jaw-dropping exponential growth patterns embodied in Moore’s law. It is instructive to compare the first transistor with a contemporary embodiment (Figures 1and2).