In fact, the BIG news on this day was announced without a great deal of fanfare. And yet, THIS changed EVERYTHING!
At the Bell Telephone Labs in New Jersey, the nerds decided to announce that they had received a patent for this thing they called a “transistor,” which pretty much revolutionized electronics. In other words, no more bulky, fragile vacuum tubes for radios, baby! The transistor radio was on its way!
The doohickey was invented by three Bell Lab dudehickeys named (left to right) John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter Brattain. Check out their ties in this photo.
As for the term “transistor,” it was coined by another Bell nerd named John Pierce. About that, Bell Labs says this: “Transistor. This is an abbreviated combination of the words 'transconductance' or 'transfer', and 'varistor.' The device logically belongs in the varistor family, and has the transconductance or transfer impedance of a device having gain, so that this combination is descriptive.” But Pierce says this: “The way I provided the name, was to think of what the device did. And at that time, it was supposed to be the dual of the vacuum tube. The vacuum tube had transconductance, so the transistor would have 'transresistance.' And the name should fit in with the names of other devices, such as varistor and thermistor. And. . . I suggested the name 'transistor.'” And the gang at the Nobel Foundation claims that the term is a combination of the words “transfer” and “resistor.” But were the Swedes there? Of course not, so they should just mind their own beeswax.
While all of this might have flown under the radar for most of the public in 1948, the announcement would reverberate down through the ages. Within a few years, there would be radios powered by transistors that could be installed in (gulp) automobiles! That would mean those long drives back to the Cape from Cranston would be enlightened by such people as Jack Benny. (There were probably others, but I was asleep by then.)
Most importantly to those of us in the U.S. baby boom was that advertisers with things to sell us would come looking for us and try to grab our attention. The best way to do that was to start us young, maybe send some guy with a Duncan yo-yo into the schoolyard and show us tricks. (Try attempting THAT these days!)
But the next best way to do that would be to get our attention through music that spoke to our age group and our hormones. That meant that New York girls like Carol King (who was already six when the transistor was announced) and California guys like Brian Wilson (who was also already six that year) eventually would be able to share with their cohorts in the baby boom some thoughts that we all might be able to understand.
“Tonight, the light of love is in your eyes, but will you love me tomorrow?”
“Do you love me, do you, surfer girl?”
Without the transistor, Snatch Alley would have been just another road. Instead, Snatch Alley remains part of American History. And it was fun, fun, fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment