x.com/OwenBrakes/status/2102053169127956992
1 correction found
In the 1950s, when Bell Labs discovered the transistor
Bell Labs’ transistor breakthrough predates the 1950s. Bell researchers achieved transistor action in December 1947, and Bell Labs publicly announced the device on June 30, 1948.
Full reasoning
This dating is off by several years. According to the Computer History Museum, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain achieved transistor action in a point-contact device in December 1947, and Bell Labs publicly announced the transistor on June 30, 1948. So Bell Labs did not first “discover the transistor” in the 1950s.
That matters because the post frames the entire licensing story as beginning with a 1950s discovery, when the invention itself was already established before that decade began.
1 source
- 1947: Invention of the Point-Contact Transistor | The Silicon Engine | Computer History Museum
John Bardeen & Walter Brattain achieve transistor action in a germanium point-contact device in December 1947... Bell Labs publicly announced the revolutionary solid-state device at a press conference in New York on June 30, 1948.