Incredible Engineering- Inventing the Transistor

The tiny transistor revolutionized modern electronics, from radios to supercomputers. Discover its fascinating origins, unexpected twists, and the minds behind this world-changing invention. Watch now!
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[@TodayIFoundOut]

This video brought to you in part by our Patrons over on Patreon. If you’d like to support our efforts here directly, and our continued efforts to improve our videos, as well as do more ultra in-depth long form videos that built in ads and even sponsors don’t always cover fully, check out our Patreon page and perks here: www.patreon.com/TodayIFoundOut And as ever, thanks for watching!

[@PopeOf420]

@12:57 SUDDEN CAMEO xD

[@PopeOf420]

@14:20 / @14:21 Again ! xD

[@S.Sparrow]

@@PopeOf420 I saw the first one and came to the comments about it, lol. Looks like you beat me to it!

[@LordSlag]

Those TWO FRAMES at 12:57. lol

[@Kardashev1]

Transistor is misspelled in the title.

[@NONFamers]

Interesting fact: When the transistor was used in hearing aids, Bell Labs forfeited their patent rights for the transistor for that particular purpose in honour of the founder of the lab, Alexander Graham Bell, who was originally trained as a teacher for deaf people.

[@beginnereasy]

✅🦍👏🏻

[@steelerfaninperu]

Fitting since the volume on this video is so low that I'm cranked at max and it's still a proper British whisper.

[@RonLaws]

@@steelerfaninperu you gotta make those transistors work for it, in spirit of the video and the Transisitor's first successful application 😆

[@johnbhancock]

My interest in in electronics started at the age of 12, 58 years ago. It subsequently became my profession and even at this age I take a keen interest in science and technology. I have to say this this is the best explanation of the history and operation of the transistor that I have ever heard. A master class in technical communication. Indeed I have been introducing some of my grandchildren to electronics and this will be my go-to introduction to the transistor.

[@Car1Sagan]

I liked it too @johnbhancock. Simon sometimes gets a few things wrong in his vids, but this one I didnt notice a flaw.

[@jstro-hobbytech]

i tip my hat to you sir. sounds like a life well-lived. i donate learning kits to local programs and random people i meet online. i went into software but i'm self-taught when it comes to hardware. im 46 and need 2 years of courses to get an ee degree as i have a ton of the credits from my software engineering degree. they only teach diploma programs locally now for engineering and the local university only does civil engineering bachelor. you have to transfer after 2 years to dalhousie in halifax if you want to take anything other than civil engineering. the local community college has a very poor ee technology course. it's sad as we have the best makerspace on this side of canada so it's not for lack of gear as the space is in the new community college.

[@nolo2484]

I think it's really hard to overstate the impact bell labs had on our modern world. Born out of a monopoly, the scale of which we will likely never see again, they had the money, time and resources available to just go crazy and invent our modern era. Must have been such an exciting place.

[@fredsmith5473]

An important part in the development of vacuum tubes was around 1915 when the head of Bell promised a coast to coast service and told his technical guys to go sort it. The transistor came about through a similar directive. Yes, the story is much more complicated than that, with two world wars and the development of radio playing a large part.

[@amelliamendel2227]

We'll never have great private/national labs like that again, but China does 🤔

[@wpatrickw2012]

One of the few times that a monopoly actually innovated.

[@alienclay2]

Sounds like a story precursor for Aperture Labs

[@thomasbest8599]

@@amelliamendel2227 they used to be ours but apparently our innovators aren't as patriotic as they pretend to be

[@Mark-c4u9g]

As a "youngster" in the early 60s I remember building crystal radios using a "cat whisker" diode. I could only get one station as we lived not too far from a 50kW Am radio tower. But i'd slowly drag the wire across the pyrite surface listening to an ear piece until I heard a signal. Also needed to string an antenna wire and I also seem to recall needing to connect to the ground (copper plumbing in the house provided that). So it was literally powered by the transmitted signal. I guess that was the beginning of my journey into Electrical Engineering.

[@zufalllx]

I built one of these when I worked at Radio Shack for a while. Crazy fun.

[@sergeikorolevGZ]

20:21 Marie Curie also won 2 Nobel Prizes; The Physics Prize in 1903 and the Chemistry Prize in 1911, making her the only person to be awarded a Nobel Prize in two different sciences

[@sssxxxttt]

:) I also raised an eyebrow knowing Simon is usually well informed. True, two physics prices is unique.

[@gulfrasta5844]

Linus Pauling won the Chemistry Prize. And the Peace Prize.

[@NicleT]

Thank you! Didn't saw your comment, but wrote almost the same one.

[@TheTomexification]

Go watch it again. In the same category: Physics.

[@MartyH99]

Less than 2%! There are about 110 elements - only 2 were discovered by women - the other 108 were discovered by men! That shows the relative contribution between the sexes to development! Where is the other 48% contribution from women?

[@Duckly97]

Thomas Edison not being credited for something he invented is some sweet, sweet irony...

[@epistulaexmortuus]

😂 yep literally the only one too

[@scratch5120]

Somewhere Tesla is laughing

[@Cheka__]

I know. Edison didn't invent a single thing. He just copied everything.

[@akyhne]

In case anyone's confused; Edison didn't invent the light bulb, it was invented even before he was born. Edison also didn't invent the incandescent light bulb, it was invented ten years before he "invented" the LONG lasting incandescent light bulb. Edison is also credited for inventing a lot of things, his TEAM invented, not he himself.

[@ChadWilson]

Imagine going back in time and convincing Edison to further develop it and help him build a computet

[@brentdaloney6292]

I've often come across people asking "what was the greatest (modern) invention?". some answer are the cell phone, iPhone, computer, vehicles and others. My answer is always "the Transistor", because without the transistor, our modern society would absolutely NOT exist.

[@5400bowen]

My brother bought the first transister device anyone in our neighborhood had ever seen in 1960. He was an electronics nut at 15 yearsokd. I was 7. It was a little AM radio, about 4.5 in. by 3 inches by 1.5 inches. Came in a real leather little case. It was pretty tiny and crackly, but it worked. He told us all about transistors.

[@1pcfred]

Bratton and Bardeen were both living in my home town when they invented the transistor. I grew up next door to Bell Labs. Dennis Ritchie grew up in my home town too. He went on to develop the C programming language and the UNIX operating system. He worked at Bell Labs too. The Labs was a famous place. By 1982 it was all over though. It's still there. The glory days are behind it now though.

[@bdwilcox]

Berkeley Heights, Murray Hill, New Providence area of New Jersey, if anyone is interested. Closest small city is probably Summit, NJ.

[@1pcfred]

@@bdwilcox yes I'm a Hilltopper. Bratton and Bardeen were long gone in my time. But I used to see Dennis Ritchie around from time to time. He lived in Berkeley Heights which is on the other side of New Providence. We shopped in the same grocery store. Plus he'd haunt a flea market that I went to too. Out in Warrenville at the firehouse.

[@jaysonl]

12:57 - DAVEN HISKEY JUMPSCARE

[@jaysonl]

14:21 - ANOTHER ONE

[@jaysonl]

New editor? This video has a bunch of weird one-frame glitches in it.

[@xSic4riuSx]

Glad I'm not the only one to see it lol, I went back and paused frame by frame to find it

[@stonent]

@@jaysonl and 22:05

[@Ksa-sp9je]

14:23 -> 14:24 as well

[@ibewatchinu]

Right up there with the humble o-ring.

[@ethandye8764]

or ball bearings

[@knurlgnar24]

The o-ring and ball bearing are two VERY underappreciated inventions.

[@akyhne]

They all do however, fall short of the LEGO brick!

[@alexsmith9617]

I had a crystal radio all through my elementary school years. I mostly used it at night to listen to Rock & Roll . It was great and never needed a battery.

[@beginnereasy]

Fascinating

[@stevederman]

I worked at Fairchild Semiconductor in Mt View California in the late 1970's. We used arsenic and antimony and a bunch of other dangerous chemicals. There were accidents all the time, and many people were hurt, a lack training was probably to blame. Those were the wild west days of silicon valley.

[@rp2358]

Have you had electrical engineering schooling in the past? Very rare to see a KZbin presenter state these concepts so clearly and fluently. The History Guy did a good job with his piece on the transistor. As an EE myself, the last 2 minutes of his post brought me to tears. I will try to add his link as a reply to this.

[@rp2358]

The History Guy's transistor history: kzbin.info/www/bejne/haapnXyJlpxmidk

[@badblood18]

I have noticed an increase of people wanting to become EE in the past years

[@JamesDavy2009]

@@badblood18 A factor is a lot of people are seeing tertiary education for the scam it is when it came to some degrees.

[@richvandervecken3954]

Thanks for making this video! I had to learn all that history when I went through my U.S.A.F. technical school back in 1981. We had to learn all of the vacuum tube theory because the military still used a great deal of equipment that had been manufactured in the 1950's at the time. The two classes in my year long tech school that created the largest percentage of failures were the tube theory course and the transistor theory course. Remarkably the course we had on the 6502 microprocessor had a much lower failure rate. I calibrated and repaired to the component level many multimeters, power supplies, and oscilloscopes in the four years I spent in the military. If I knew then what I know now I would have gone into the department ( physical dimensions ) that calibrated torque wrenches and pressure gauges as well as thickness gauges and granite flat plates because those with experience in those area's make way more money in the civilian world even though they are all pass / fail calibrations with very few adjustments possible.

[@Car1Sagan]

If only we knew back then what we know now @richvandervecken3954

[@mikebergman1817]

I love transitors too.

[@rmarca8306]

Is it me, or does this video seem quiet or slightly muffled? I normally listen to these videos in my vehicle while driving, but I've never had a hard time listening to one before.

[@theearwyrm]

Video definitely is quieter than some of the others.

[@Line49Design]

Agree

[@Car1Sagan]

You might need one of those transistor hearing aids @rmarca8306

[@cncking2000]

This video is definitely difficult to hear.

[@rockingbeat]

I had to turn up my TV

[@jimyohe100]

The title of your show has a spelling error in it. Inventing the Transitor should be Inventing the Transistor. You're missing the second "s" in transistor.

[@Cheka__]

It's not a mistake. They left off the second s for savings.

[@ThatWinterRider]

Editor just face palmed

[@Ottophil]

Its fixed

[@pascoharmonica8560]

thanks

[@Condorman1]

The greatest invention in the history of humanity.

[@kims.schinkel8212]

Two notes: 1. I'm old enough to remember a local store having a rather large machine that was used to test vacuum tubes. 2. The Liberty Memorial in Kansas City MO used to have a carillon. They gave it to St. Mary's Episcopal Church, but with the caveat that it still operates on vacuum tubes. Believe it or not, there's still a company that makes those.

[@Condorman1]

When I took electronics in high school we learned about how vacuum tubes worked. I collected old radios after I finished college where I was first taught about transistors.

[@Waverunner21]

Nope, the number zero is the greatest invention in human history. Without the number zero transistors don’t exist.

[@Condorman1]

@@Waverunner21 LOL

[@lewiswestfall2687]

The vacuum tube stayed on for a long time as TV picture tubes and computer displays.

[@BaronVonQuiply]

The humble-yet-massive CRT

[@Cheka__]

I think the Romans were the first society to use CRT tv's in large numbers.

[@jimsteele9261]

It's still used in your microwave oven. The magnetron that generates the microwaves is essentially a vacuum yube.

[@TarGang]

They’re also still used in music and recording devices. They’re highly prized for the pleasing harmonic saturation they infuse sound sources with.

[@dbmail545]

The first transistor did not look like it would miniturize electronics. I believe the initial interest in transistors was due to the reduction of power needed compared to vacuum tubes. $49 was serious money in 1950.

[@1pcfred]

$49 in 1950 would be $637.79 today. So about the price of a smart phone.

[@JamesDavy2009]

@@1pcfred A major brand one at that.

[@1pcfred]

@@JamesDavy2009 well yeah. At the time a portable transistorized radio was the peak of technology. The absolute cutting edge. My Mom told me a story of a kid that got one back then and everyone was mightly impressed. It was akin to walking around with your extraterrestrial friend or something.

[@Christian-ev1zu]

Fun thing that could make a video here: SAW Devices (Filters) the thing that allows smartphones to be built that don't need a truck full of electronics to receive so many different frequencies.

[@douglassauvageau7262]

SAW filters were preceded by 'varactors'. Still used in high-energy circuits.

[@nezbrun872]

@@douglassauvageau7262SAW filters have nothing in common with varactors other than they’re both used in RF designs. They have completely different functions.

[@nezbrun872]

Asianometry did an excellent video on SAW filters ten months ago, well worth a watch. I regularly work with them in my designs, but had little idea of how SAW filters themselves are designed until I saw the Asianometry video.

[@douglassauvageau7262]

@@nezbrun872 Varactors are essential to frequency-agile transmit applications. SAW Filters capitalize on the receive-end.

[@WilliamBrownMBA]

Fun fact: the first product of the company that would become Sony was tomato soup. The change to electronics shaped the company’s culture. After that, Akio Morita would become notorious for sitting down at meetings and proposing new businesses that Sony had never done before and the rest of the company had to figure out how to make it happen. This is how Sony Pictures came to be. Mr. Morita said he wanted to distribute movies. The team put together a proposal and pitched it, Morita approved and it took off.

[@Dlf212]

Sounds somewhat like Shigeru Miyamoto "flipping" the tea table and making some teams start all over.

[@Cheka__]

They should stick to soup. They'll never create anything else that anyone wants to buy.

[@swiftycortex]

​@Cheka__ the ***?

[@alext3811]

Wasn't Norigo Ohga also important?

[@peteralflat281]

Sharp was originally a mechanical pencil manufacturer before moving into electronics. Funny 'ol world init?

[@gokeefe]

Of all the thousands of educational/informative videos I've watched, it's just occured to me that this is the first one that even explained how a vacuum tube works. I had no idea before today, which is crazy to me.

[@iTeerRex]

Right up there with the wheel, the generator/motor, and pizza 😁

[@soaringvulture]

And it's the only one that's not round.

[@iTeerRex]

@ I noticed that too.

[@exoplanet11]

In addition to transistors, one thing that wouldn't have happened without inventor Lee de Forest was the name of actor: "DeForest Kelley", whose character, Dr. McCoy would later be involved in the invention of Transparent Aluminum.

[@MichaelAbney-w6t]

Both are wrong,his name was Jackson Deforest Kelley. He was named after Lee Deforest. Bones had nothing to do with "inventing" transparent aluminum, he was only next to Scottie when he offered it up for trade in a Trek movie.

[@tsbrownie]

Not sure why he would say that using a crystal radio was difficult. I built one at age 7 for cub scouts.

[@Cotronixco]

Originally it was difficult. Yours (and mine) came later.

[@rickpontificates3406]

The 3 most important inventions in the history of the world; THE WHEEL, ANTIBIOTICS, THE TRANSISTOR

[@JamesDavy2009]

If you're going to list the wheel (and axle), you may as well list out the other simple machines: the lever, the screw, the pulley, the inclined plane and the wedge.

[@timmywashere1164]

15:42 GET BACK IN THE BASEMENT DAVE!

[@lessgoofyone]

Hahahaha saw this right as is happened

[@JonMahn]

@@lessgoofyone I rewound it to make sure I hadnt subliminally seen Dave as the pictures changed!

[@bipolarminddroppings]

Glad I'm not the only one who saw that...

[@whitebeltjoe4109]

Jumpscare

[@ශාලිත]

Nice to know I was not the only one who noticed 😂

[@philpots48]

Wonderful history, when I was a teen in the early 60s I played with electronics and my father said "He'll be your friend for a 6 volt battery"

[@BrinJay-s4v]

Around 130 years ago physicists observed reverse currents in crystal with a third electrode. Then the thermionic valve was developed and research was stopped. We might have had the diode and transistor first without the Crt straight to solid state?

[@marktrain9498]

They hadn't discovered quantum mechanics yet. They had no theory as to why these things behaved the way they did, and couldn't advance it because of that.

[@marvins42]

Transitor ! Wow. I have never heard of this device and I've been into electronics for decades. However, I have heard of spell-checker.

[@patriciafeehan7732]

Decades and you never heard of a Transistor, it made radios portable.

[@eadweard.]

This kind of humour gets you laid.

[@patriciafeehan7732]

@@eadweard. How could you study electronics and not know what a transistor is and does? He said it was his hobby, resisters, capacitors, diodes and the miracle Transistor is not understood. It changed electronics and radios portable.

[@olanmills64]

@@patriciafeehan7732you are missing the joke my friend. Read his post carefully. Also note that there are multiple typos in the on-screen text in the video

[@patriciafeehan7732]

@@olanmills64 It states the title was corrected. Thank you, Simple Ohm’s Law being made complicated.

[@douglassauvageau7262]

Vacuum Tubes continue be essential in High-Power Radio Frequency applications. Likewise Klystrons, Magnetrons, and Twystrons..

[@myriaddsystems]

Even De Forest didn’t know the mathematical theory to understand how valves worked, it took Armstrong to work that out- I think

[@nonstopbg]

Marie Curie also has two Nobel Prizes, you have even made videos about her. How is he the first person to do so?

[@j4s0n39]

She has one in physics and one in chemistry. Bardeen is the only person to win two in physics, as Simon pointed out.

[@tymoteuszkazubski2755]

​@@j4s0n39It is not clear from his wording that he means two **physics** Noble Prizes.

[@CaptHudson]

Dad engineered at Univac. Large (for the time) color TV built using "Stone Knifes and Bearskins" or a Heathkit with tubes.

[@neepsmcfly4176]

Given Edison's cutthroat tactics for fame & fortune, I'm ok w forgetting he had anything to do w this. Just happy no farm animals needed to die for this items success.

[@xisthNB]

Simon, love you for trying to shed light on a complex subject. As someone deep in the industry I do understand this is an extremely complex subject which is the culmination of thousands of innovations. Might I recommend trying to reduce the amount of concepts. It helps with engagement and understanding. "the first computers, made intelligent by light", "The first semiconductors - how computers stepped away from light", "FET the technology which drives modern electronics"

[@kristakis]

@13:30 "current from the collector to the base was modulated by applying a current to the emitter". It feels to me like the words base and emitter have been transposed but maybe that's how their device worked.

[@michael-j-harrison]

As stated would be correct if it was first tested in a common base configuration. A common base connection although not a common way of using a transistor is actually valid

[@jenniferlindsey2015]

Thank you so much for all of Simon’s Edutainment channels. I learn more everyday from Simon’s writers, than I think I ever did in school! Keep it coming out of the basement folks! Love you all. 💙💙💙

[@stickfiftyfive]

The timing of this video is so remarkable personally. Yesterday I asked myself "what's the deal with transistors?". Today, I found out. Thank *you*.

[@douggrove4686]

So you jump right in to P/N junction transistors. The original research at Bell labs was for a surface effect where an electric field could change the conductivity of germanium. While this was promising, it lead to the development of the Field Effect Transistor (the first transistor). This was very much like a vacuum tube, where a small voltage could control a large current. Junction transistors came later. Fun fact, the vast majority of transistors manufactured are FETs.

[@hallieboy]

He's also showing the prototype of the point contact transistor and saying it had a gate, drain, and source.

[@BeRadNotBadYo]

Transitor!

[@jiggu]

Why is there a single frame of your other host at 8.05 in the video?

[@eadweard.]

Probably a mistake.

[@scratch5120]

It’s ironic that Edison who so regularly stole credit for other periods inventions Missed on on credit for the fundamental build bf block of the modern world.

[@Timemachineultra]

I'd more than love you watch you do an interview with someone prominent in the semiconductor chips industry

[@robertherndon4351]

Nice to see a fairly complete history like this! Particularly mentioning Edison and Lilienfeld, and the different kinds of transistors (junction + FET). Unmentioned is the BCS theory of superconductivity (Bardeen, Cooper, Schriefer) is/was the primary theory for the operation of superconductors from its inception up until the discovery of "high temperature superconductors" in 1986, which still don't have an adequate theory. "Cooper pairs" and the "condensation" of (fermion) electrons to cooper pairs (bosons) explain the transition from ordinary conductor to superconductor.

[@zogzog1063]

These days - actually for decades - valves are highly prized in the audiophile community. Entire amplifiers are based on using valves for amplification. The debate continues as to what is better for hi-fi sound. Proponents for valves claim the valves give a warmer and more holographic sound.

[@bsadewitz]

I don't think it's actually cleaner. I think what people like about them is a certain kind of equalization

[@ThatNeilDude]

Now this is the in-depth, boring, hard facts I come to KZbin for

[@TheManFrayBentos]

What's with all the flash cuts to that other bloke?

[@lisamartinbradley1039]

Right? Maybe trying to associate him with the channel. But, that's not the reason I don't watch his videos. I prefer Simon's voice.

[@BaronVonQuiply]

Maybe he read the script first before switching to Simon, or the editor did this video in an existing project Either way, there was a video sitting underneath all the other tracks and it shows up whenever there's a gap in the footage

[@ghyslainabel]

Glad to see I am not the only one who saw that other bloke.

[@t63a700]

Simon, your audio gain at the 15:00 mark was I believe greater than 15%. Wowzers! Props for the content!

[@rhekman]

18:31 Other notable Fairchild Semiconductor alumni -- Jerry Sanders - left Fairchild shortly after Moore & Noyce with other employees to start Advanced Micro Devices - AMD. Federico Faggin - joined Intel and led the design group that created the first commercial microprocessor the 4004, then left Intel to found Zilog and designed the Z80.

[@peterfireflylund]

And later Synaptics and their touchpad.

[@deanbuss1678]

" she blinded me with science" - Thomas Dolby

[@EEVblog]

Where can I get one of these "Transitor's" as per the video title?

[@isbestlizard]

They should stock them at your local Radio Shack

[@maxwirt921]

As a guitarist, I’m very familiar with the vacuum tube.

[@antonnym214]

This is a very good cover Story. Of course, as every knows, Bell labs did not have the technology to dope silicon with Boron. No lab on the east coast could do it. Clearly The transistor came from the Roswell saucer. It was provided to Bell labs by Col. Phillip Corso at the pentagon. Credit to Shockley, Bardeen, and Brittain for their ground breaking work to reverse engineer the device. They deserved their Nobel prize.

[@captainsouth4460]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@jeffyeley9344]

Excellent Work ! thank you. Would you please do a video on why packing more & more transistors on a single computer chip is so important and vital ? What does mean ?

[@johnstoner2]

Bardeen was an emeritus professor at UIUC when I was there. Never met him.

[@PopeOf420]

@12:57 SUDDEN CAMEO xD

[@-strauss1560]

there is more than one cameo on my observation.

[@tydewalt5425]

I love your content Simon, You put out a LOT! I only wish, (at the very minimum), the audio level was consistent beteween all channels/videos. .... I also know you do not read comments. But I know some of your editors and writers do, so I'm just throwing darts in the dark. :D ed:sp

[@hardlygamaliel455]

DeForest was actually tried and convicted of mail fraud because the judge in his case couldn't understand how a current could flow across a vacuum. Teaches you something about courts ruling on technical subjects.

[@osinskijorgealejandro1270]

Check the following wording: 3:37 containing two basic components a fine 3:39 metalwire anode and a plate-shaped 3:41 cathode when current was run through the 3:43 anode as alluded to in the Edison test 3:45 the filament heated up red hot and began 3:47 giving off electrons via a process The filament is heated up by the current that flows through it, just as a light bulb. It has nothing to do with the anode current which depends on the polarity of the anode respective to the filament. Additionally, the plate is not the cathode, the plate is another word for anode.

[@michaelsroka3041]

I love transitors! Forget the haters!!!

[@deanjericevic8912]

An apt finishing which highlights the emphasis on size evolution & how the IC (chip) now contains 2.6 Trillion transistors. Like it!

[@BarryOconnor-z9q]

Bell Labs was the research arm of American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T). The three individuals credited with the invention of the transistor were William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain. The introduction of the transistor is often considered one of the most important inventions in history.

[@mikescholz6429]

Love how the legs that are functionally identical all have different nomenclature depending on whether or not you’re dealing with transistors or fets.

[@Cheka__]

I can't wait for the day when we have computers capable of doing hundreds of calculations per second that are small enough to fit in a little bedroom.

[@bsadewitz]

That day passes long ago lol

[@longjohn526]

There is a video floating around on KZbin showing the hand assembly of the TR-1 radio. Workers would install all the components on the PCB and then put it on this Ferris wheel type of contraption and it would rotate over a pool of solder and solder everything at once. The chip in the RTX 4090 GPU has 76.3 billion transistors on a 609 mm² die or about 125.3 million transistors per mm²

[@jcam5]

And if the transitor was never invented, we'd have Fallout style tech.

[@MrAdamArce]

I'm kind of glad for that lol Nuclear powered cars sound like a really awful idea. Also the logs about them exploding in high speed crashes doesn't help either lol

[@JamesVillebrun-u4v]

transistor....

[@HerrThannar]

I can’t imagine a Mr Handy running on vacuum tubes, but I really love the fallout style of technology.

[@monto39]

The one place where old technology is still king is in Guitar Amps. It's generally accepted (though a growing # would debate this) that Vacuum Tube amplifiers create the gold standard for electric guitar tone. Many of the devices that do use transistors (especially tone manipulating Guitar Pedals) still fetishize the use of Germanium transistors, despite their heat sensitivity and lower reliability. I am a believer that tubes make for the best tone - but DAMN those amps weigh a lot!

[@RayoAtra]

For some reason the initial parts of this video gave me a lil "Turbo Encabulator" vibes. You guy should do a read of that script on one of the channels on 1 April. : ] Thanks for all the entertainment Fact Boy.

[@B3MDUSA]

4:10 not quite. The filament IS the cathode. The electrons are emitted from the cathode and fly to the anode. Newer tubes have indirectly heated cathodes. Fleming valves used tungsten filaments, also known as directly heated cathodes.

[@jonasp.2285]

Thanks for testing my ability to comprehend a semi-complex concept. Had to watch the P-N junction bit twice, but I think I got it.

[@state_song_xprt]

20:21 Bardeen is (as of writing) the only person to win two Nobel prizes in Physics - four other people have won two Nobels Frederick Sanger (chemistry twice - first for discovering the amino acid sequece of insulin, second for inventing DNA sequencing) Linus Pauling (chemistry for discovering protein secondary structures, Peace for his work on nuclear disarmament) Marie Curie (physics for discovering radioactivity, chemistry for discovering Polonium and Radium. remains only person with two nobels in different science fields) Karl Barry Sharpless (chemistry twice, both for organic synthesis stuff. his second nobel was in 2022 so he's not on older lists)

[@christopherquattromusic]

the number of things discovered in NJ always floors me. #jerseyproud

[@longjohn526]

That little transistor radio was expensive. $49.95 in 1955 is about $588 today. Can you imagine buying a portable AM radio for $588?

[@DeutschlandGuy]

Even more remarkable is the fact that Simon can successfully narrate a 22-minute video without ever taking a breath. 😅🤣😂

[@timothyenke4872]

The amount of information I learn from Simon and crew is dumbfounding! Unfortunately, I probably forget it as soon as the next video drops!😅

[@NipkowDisk]

This showed up in my feed, and I'm glad it did! Thoroughly enjoyable to watch, and learn details of transistor history that I was unaware of. Subscribed.

[@osinskijorgealejandro1270]

There were portable vacuum tube portable radios before transistor radios came to be. They carried a 45 volt battery to power the anodes and a 1.5 volt "D" battery for the filaments. There was a specific line of vacuum tubes created for these applications as most, but by no means all, tubes used 6.3 volt filaments and much higher anode voltages (for example the "universal" or AC/DC radios used filaments connected in series whose voltage sum was close to 110 Volts and eliminated the need for expensive power transformers).

[@lewis7315]

My sister Winnie bought the first transistor radio I ever saw. Brought it down to the local beach for classic "50s background music back in the - wait fot it- the "50s.

[@mickyday2008]

I made transistors for the guidance system of our Trident missiles on my industrial placement. Very basic design to be highly reliable but they only had to work once.

[@beginnereasy]

I'm glad people are into this.

[@TheCatzilla1]

Incredible Engineering, add that to the channel list, Simon I would subscribe

[@osinskijorgealejandro1270]

In valves (vacuum tubes) the electrons flow from the cathode to the anode. The conventional current flows in the opposite direction (from positive to negative) not to be confused with electron flow.

[@ronmorrell9809]

This was an excellent historical summary. I'd never understood vacuum tube function this well. Thanks.

[@bobair2]

What a superb video and very informative. I regard the transistor as the 20th century's greatest invention because of the huge number of inventions that are only possible because of it's existence. In this time we live in the transistor taken as individuals represents that greastest number of of man made objects ever made and that is just in one year of production. All the books,bullets and screws plus nails ,railroad ties and motor vehicles and bicycles and well basically all things human made that are not transistors when added up as individuals do not equal the number of transistors overall produced in a single year. The amazing thing is the number of transistors just keeps growing. Of the three co-inventors only did Shockley see the potential of them as more than being just novelty items.

[@Pylon069]

You know it's important when Korn makes a song about it

[@cptyler150]

We were jump started with help to design the transistor with a little help from some other galactic friends

[@1971VoiceoftheMummy]

Fantastic info!! Nice work!

[@RaymondBCrisp]

Fun fact. The cameras on the Hubble Space Telescope were designed and fabricated by Fairchild Imaging. I once toured their facility.

[@matthewjuhlin4628]

BIG CORRECTION: Marie Curie (1867-1934) won two Nobel Prizes, one in Physics in 1903 and one in Chemistry in 1911. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only person to win in two different scientific fields. 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics Curie and her husband Pierre shared the prize for their work on spontaneous radiation The prize recognized their joint research on radiation phenomena discovered by Henri Becquerel 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Curie won the prize for her discovery of radium and polonium, and for her work on radioactivity The prize recognized her contributions to the science of chemistry Other awards In 1903, Curie and Pierre were also awarded the Davy Medal of the Royal Society In 1921, President Harding presented Curie with one gram of radium Curie's work transformed the fields of radiology and medicine. She used radioactivity to treat cancer and organized mobile X-ray teams during World War I.

[@davebarron5939]

The mind of man, always reaching to touch the face of God. Curiosity and an entrepreneur spirit, drives it. Great story, and so happy to see all the "little people" sometimes forgotten, brought to the forefront.

[@RussellStClair-cy1vu]

My Uncle John St.Clair was to young for WWI . To old for WWII . Had degree in Electrical engineering. He work for Edison . Invented the Resistor , because he need one . His Foreman came by said what is this ? Took it because it was Edison property and sent it to be patient . Uncle John also was known as Mr.Wizard . He had a radio show out of Chicago teaching people how to make a radio and other electrical items over the radio . AND ! My favorite ! He was a wrestler known as the Masked Terror ! He's the wrestler who gave Gorgeous George the first Unprettier ! Most that came out of Edison was , came from someone working there . Not Edison . That's why he was Mr Wizard and the Masked Terror . Moonlighting was a crime after all . What he told me and my brother Stan . " Electricity ? It does what you ask it ."

[@sophietaylor9753]

Woo, Our Own Devices crossover!

[@jonkayl9416]

Great Video

[@JanielMcGuitarAndTea]

I still think radio waves and things like the _cats whisker_ are absolute magic!... and *yet again* youtube is reading my mind.. I'll think of something... and boom, 2 days later there's a KZbin recommendation for that exact thing.

[@deanhansen5041]

Im old enough to remember the TV repairman coming to replace tube's in our old tv.

[@trivialpershoot]

Still waiting on the invention of the worlds first Transitor