11-11-2021, 11:38 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-11-2021, 11:42 AM by ppppenguin.)
Did Lilienfeld actually demonstrate a working device? I don't think so.
There were also various reports of "oscillating crystals" in the 1920s and 30s. Possibly experimenters trying a pair of cats whiskers on a detector and inadvertently making a point contact transistor.
So Shockley et al weren't hunting for something utterly unkown. They happened to be the first team that demonstrated a workable device.
An analogy (and I'm sure there are many others) was Baird's world first demonstration of TV in 1926. The ideas of scanning and photosensitivity were already well established by then. Campbell Swinton had proposed an all-electronic TV system before WW1, though without the means to build it. Others, notably CF Jenkins and Bell Labs in the US were working at the same time as Baird.
There were also various reports of "oscillating crystals" in the 1920s and 30s. Possibly experimenters trying a pair of cats whiskers on a detector and inadvertently making a point contact transistor.
So Shockley et al weren't hunting for something utterly unkown. They happened to be the first team that demonstrated a workable device.
An analogy (and I'm sure there are many others) was Baird's world first demonstration of TV in 1926. The ideas of scanning and photosensitivity were already well established by then. Campbell Swinton had proposed an all-electronic TV system before WW1, though without the means to build it. Others, notably CF Jenkins and Bell Labs in the US were working at the same time as Baird.
www.borinsky.co.uk Jeffrey Borinsky www.becg.tv
