Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

University of Vermont

1991

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Physics

The Invention Of The Transistor, Bret E. Crawford Jan 1991

The Invention Of The Transistor, Bret E. Crawford

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Julius E. Lilienfeld filed for patents for three different designs for solid-state amplifying devices between 1926 and 1928, well before Bell Lab's discovery of the point-contact transistor in 1948. The American Physical Society named a prize in honor of Lilienfeld after receiving a substantial sum of money in 1982 from the will of his wife, Beatrice Lilienfeld, who believed her husband had not received sufficient credit for his scientific contributions. In order to investigate Lilienfeld's contribution to early efforts to replace the vacuum triode, we present the history surrounding these efforts, contributions and limitations of Lilienfeld's work, and details of …