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Crystal Fire
The Birth of the Information Age
by Lillian Hoddeson ; Michael Riordan
ISBN: 0393041247
ISBN-13: 9780393041248
Format: Hardcover
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Summary
On December 16, 1947, John Bardeen and Walter Brittain, jabbed two electrodes into a half-inch-long sliver of geranium. The electrical power that came out of that piece of geranium was 100 times stronger than what went in. In that moment, the transistor was invented and the information age began. This book recounts the story of the transistor and sheds light on the human factors involved in the development of technology.
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Media Reviews
"A swiftly moving narrative account of the remarkable people who invented the transistor - and thereby created today's Information Age." -- Charles C. Mann
"...a reader of this fine book might well wonder if any contemporary corporate entity would bet the huge sums required on such a longshot technological gamble." -- Frederic Golden
-- San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
"Without the invention of the transistor, I'm quite sure that the PC would not exist as we know it today." -- Bill Gates
"Crystal Fire" is an important book about a group of scientists at least one of whom had the future in his bones and the knowledge of what it held." -- John Durant
-- New York Times Book Review
Bibliographic Details
Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
Published date: 1997
Size: 6.75 x 10 inches
Weight: 1.6 pounds
Pages: 352
Publisher's Notes
It is hard to imagine any device more crucial to modern life than the microchip and the transistor from which it sprang. Every waking hour people of the world take their vast benefits for granted - in cellular phones, ATMs, wrist watches, calculators, computers, automobiles, radios, televisions, fax machines, copiers, stoplights, and thousands of other electronic devices. Without a doubt, the transistor is the most important artifact of the twentieth century and the "nerve cell" of our electronic age. Crystal Fire recounts the story of the transistor team at Bell Labs headed up by William Shockley who shared the Nobel Prize with John Bardeen and Walter Brattain. While his colleagues went on to other research, Shockley grew increasingly obsessed with the new gadget. Eventually he formed his own firm - the first semiconductor company in what would become Silicon Valley, spawning hundreds of other businesses and a multi-billion-dollar industry. Above all, Crystal Fire is a tale of the human factors in technology - the pride and jealousies coupled with scientific and economic aspiration that led to the creation of modern microelectronics and ignited the greatest technological explosion in history.
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Crystal Fire
Riordan, Michael and Hoddeson, Lillian
Norton. 1997. Very Good. wrinkles to top of spine ( more information)
Offered by Encore Books of Harvester (United States)
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Crystal Fire: the Birth of the Information Age
Riordan, Michael; Hoddeson, Lillian
Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.: W W Norton & Co Inc, 1997 Good in Good jacket Ex Library Text is CLEAN, in good condition! 1st edition, retired library book, may contain minor stickers or stamps,. 1st. Hard Cover. Good/Good. ( more information)
Offered by Midwest Book Company (United States)
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