Crystal Fire: The Birth of the Information Age (Sloan Technology Series)

Riordan, Michael; Hoddeson, Lillian

ISBN 10: 0393041247 / ISBN 13: 9780393041248

Published by W W Norton & Co Inc, 1997

Fast Free Shipping â Good condition. It may show normal signs of use, such as light writing, highlighting, or library markings, but all pages are intact and the book is fully readable. A solid, complete copy that's ready to enjoy. Seller Inventory # GWV.0393041247.G

Synopsis:

On December 16, 1947, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain, physicists at Bell Laboratories, jabbed two electrodes into a sliver of the metalloid geranium. The power flowing from the geranium far exceeded what went in; in that moment the transistor was invented and the Information Age was born. No other devices have been as crucial to modern life as the transistor and the microchip it spawned. This is the story of the science and personalities that made these inventions possible. William Shockley, Bell Labs' team leader and co-recipient of the Nobel Prize with Brattain and Bardeen for the discovery, grew obsessed with the transistor and went on to become the father of Silicon Valley. The process of invention - including the competition and economic aspirations involved - all part of the greatest technological explosion in history is surveyed here.

About the Authors: Lillian Hoddeson is an historian at the University of Illinois and lives in Urbana. Research for Crystal Fire was sponsored by the Sloan Foundation.

Stanford University physicist Michael Riordan has written several popular books on science and technology. He lives in Santa Cruz, California.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Crystal Fire: The Birth of the Information ...
Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
Publication Date: 1997
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: good