C4IP is recognizing William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain, whose invention of the transistor made modern electronics possible.
- Shockley, Bardeen, and Brattain met in the 1940s at Bell Laboratories when they were hand-picked to work on developing a transistor, a device for generating and amplifying electrical signals.
- The trio succeeded after just two years, receiving a patent for their groundbreaking discovery in 1950.
- The three men were awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention, whose efficiency and small size allowed it to quickly supplant the vacuum tube as the preferred way to control electric currents.
- The transistor is regarded today as one of the most influential inventions of the 20th century and as the “Big Bang” that sparked the modern electronics industry.
- Common devices that rely on transistors include computers, smartphones, car engines, and memory chips.
- In our increasingly high-tech world, the value of transistors continues to grow rapidly: The global market for semiconductors, which consists mostly of transistors, was estimated to be worth nearly $550 billion in 2023.
- With an estimated 13 sextillion transistors having been produced as of 2018, the transistor is the most-manufactured object in history.