December 23, 1947

December 23, 1947

It was December, 1947, and I was less than three months old. The world was still trying to emerge from the effects of the modern day dark ages of World War II. On December 23, of that year, three men, John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter Brattain, were working at the Bell Telephone Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey.

They were conducting an electrical experiment to explore the little known physics of semi-conductors using a tiny bit of impure germanium crystal. Suddenly Brattain shouted "This thing's got current gain!" They would call their invention the "transistor" and the world would never be the same again.

At the time, few people realized what the invention really meant. Popular Mechanics magazine, always a visionary publication, predicted that, in the future, "computers would contain fewer than 1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh less than 1-1/2 tons." Well, they were right.

We no longer have to stand by and let others be our voice. We find out that people, once thought to be enemies, are just like us, and we become friends. We make friends all over the world and can talk with them whenever we choose, and learn from each other. How much is that worth?

In 1947 three men gave us a new world. As this year comes to a close I'd like to dedicate this image to them, and all the countless others who worked so hard to put this power in our hands, thank you!