Crystal Fire #10

Despite his immense contributions, Shockley never became the millionaire he wanted to be. He recruited first-rate scientists and engineers, but many defected to start or join other more successful firms.

Neither Brattain nor Bardeen had anywhere near Shockley’s visionary appreciation of the transistor’s vast commercial potential. Both continued doing basic research – Brattain at Bell Labs and Bardeen on a variety of solid state physics topics, especially superconductivity, for which he won a second Nobel Prize.

Almost as important as the transistor’s invention are the techniques crystal growing and zone refining, which allow fabricating large single crystals of ultra-pure silicon and germanium. Without these crystals, the industry would not exist.

The transistor led to a startling transformation of technology and even culture and the nature of work  – computers (main-frame and then personal), modern televisions, the iPod, and cell phones.

The new Information Age comes with its own distinct challenges to human freedom and livelihood. The crystal fire has brought with it an intensity and immediacy of life in which many things become obsolete soon. Some people unable or unwilling to deal with the unceasing change widens the divisions between different peoples on a national and global scale. For as fire illuminates, it also consumes.

Some other challenges not mentioned in the book are privacy, cyber-crime on a global scale, and the proliferation of advertising.

This is my final post about Crystal Fire.

Crystal Fire #9

The use of transistors expanded rapidly. But a worrisome cloud loomed on the horizon. As the number of components – transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, and connections – grew, the tedious task of assembly resulted in more defects. A few visionary engineers began looking for ways to fashion circuits from a single block of material. Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments was a pioneer in making such “integrated circuits.” Kilby’s first successful attempt used germanium, but then silicon came to be recognized and used by Kilby and others -- its advantages outweighing its disadvantages. Photolithography was used to define the circuit elements. The monolithic idea also arose in a different form at Fairchild Semiconductor. Both companies got patents for their products.

Shockley Transistor also invented a diode. When manufactured in quantity, too many diodes being defective led to market failure. Another Shockley attempt at transistors didn’t fare well either. Observing Shockley Transistor’s hemorrhaging cash and Fairchild’s great success, Arnold Beckman finally sought to sell off his transistor division and did.

These miniature circuits were a new and revolutionary advance. They are the ultimate practical expression of the theoretical insights of Bardeen, Shockley, Noyes and others, filtered and amplified by hundreds of scientists following in their footsteps. Many of the insights came at Bell Labs, Bell Labs and Western Electric were slow to to appreciate the value of monolithic integration. The phone company did not have the same pressing need for miniaturization that prodded the computer and military markets. Other firms, especially Texas Instruments and Fairchild, led the way.

The Innovators #4

The Innovators gives several more stories of collaborators in the history of the the computer, including for example:
- Robert Noyes and Gordon Moore, the founders of Intel
- Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, the founders of Apple
- Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the founders of Microsoft
- Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina, developers of the Mosaic browser
- Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google.

Since these people are more recent and widely known, I won't say more. Readers wanting more can read the book or search the Internet.

The Innovators #3

Who invented the computer? With the criteria electronic, general purpose, and programmable (by plugging and unplugging cables), Isaacson's answer is ENIAC. It was completed in 1945 before transistors and microchips came into use. It was designed by two men, Presper Eckert and John Mauchly. "Mauchly and Eckert should be at the top of the list for inventing the computer, not because the ideas were all their own but because they had the ability to draw ideas from multiple sources, add their own innovations, execute their vision by building a competent team, and have the most influence on the course of subsequent development" (80-84). So ENIAC's creation supports his theme of collaboration.

As the microchip was being invented, different developers filed for patents for their invention. Getting a patent often took years. Jack Kilby's application was filed in January, 1959 but not granted until June, 1964.  Fairchild filed an application for Robert Noyce's invention in July 1959. But it was granted earlier, in April, 1961. "So who invented the microchip? As with the question of who invented the computer, the answer cannot be settled simply by reference to legal rulings. The nearly simultaneous advances made by Kilby and Noyce showed that the atmosphere of the time was primed for such an invention. Indeed, many others around the world ... had earlier proposed the possibility of an integrated circuit. What Noyce and Kilby did, in collaboration with teams at their companies, was figure out practical methods to produce such a device" (The Innovators, 179-80).

The Innovators #2

A top locus of collaborative invention was Bell Labs, especially in the 1940's. Its Wikipedia page lists by decades the many discoveries and developments there. Isaacson's The Innovators says nothing about many of them, but devotes many pages to some.

"Bell Labs ... was a haven for turning ideas into inventions. Abstract theories intersected with practical problems there, and in the corridors and cafeteria eccentric theorists mingled with hands-on engineers, gnarly mechanics, and businesslike problem-solvers, encouraging the cross-fertilization of theory with engineering. This made Bell Labs an archetype of one of the most important innovations of digital-age innovation" (48).

There Claude Shannon saw up close the wonderful power of the phone system's circuits, which used electrical switches to route calls and balance loads. In his mind, he began connecting the workings of these circuits to another subject he found fascinating, the system of logic formulated by George Boole. Boole revolutionized logic by expressing logical statement using symbols and equations.  Shannon figured out that electrical circuits could execute Boolean logical operations using an arrangement of on-off switches, making relays and logic gates (48).

Another milestone at Bell Labs was the invention of the transistor (Chapter 4). John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley were later jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their achievement. The transistor provided the foundation for transistor radios, missile guidance systems and radar, and the invention of microprocessors, which came to be often called "integrated circuits" or "microchips." Microchips later became foundational for hand-held calculators, computers, and cell phones.

The Innovators #1

I have been reading The Innovators, a book written by Walter Isaacson. It is about the digital revolution, i.e. computers. Isaacson emphasizes that many innovations in the digital revolution were the result of collaborative efforts.

"This is the story of these pioneers, hackers, inventors and entrepreneurs -- who they were, how their minds worked, and what made them so creative. It's also a narrative of how they collaborated and why their ability to work together made them even more creative.
     The tale of their teamwork is important because we don't often focus on how central that skill is to innovation. There are thousands of books celebrating people we biographers portray, or mythologize, as lone inventors. ... But we have far fewer tales of collaborative creativity, which is actually more important in understanding how today's technology revolution was fashioned" (p. 1).

The names of some of the most famous collaborators are common knowledge, e.g. Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.  But there are several other collaborators, less commonly known, who also did a lot to make the digital revolution.  John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley at Bell Labs were awarded a Nobel Prize for inventing the transistor. The graphical user interface and mouse that Steve Jobs first exploited for Apple computers were invented by teams elsewhere. Robert Noyce and Jack Kilby invented the the first integrated circuit or microchip that helped launch the personal computer revolution. Noyce and Gordon Moore founded Intel, which mass-produced and improved the microchips that fueled the personal computer revolution. These collaborators plus more not mentioned here provide the content and evidence for Isaacson's story. He also gives examples of inventors who did great things, but with little collaboration, and that inhibited the wide-spread adoption of their ideas and the success of their ideas in the marketplace.