75th anniversary of the transistor [Book review}

Abstract

The invention of the transistor during the late 1940s had a significant effect on the high-technology systems we enjoy today, and the inventors of the transistor (in its first form called the point contact transistor) won the Nobel prize in 1964. John Bardeen and Walter Brattain's early work followed by the contribution of William Schockley to invent the junction transistor affected the early electronic engineering systems, driving them into the miniaturization path of modern integrated circuit technology. Bardeen is recorded in history as the scientist who won the Nobel prize for the same subject (physics) twice. This book provides a highly readable historic account of the development of the transistors over a quarter century leading into the VLSI technology we see in portable products and consumer electronics today.