Bardeen, Brattain & Shockley Invent the Point-Contact Transistor

12/23/1947
Schematic of an early model of a transistor
Schematic of an early model of a transistor

On December 23, 1947 the point-contact transistor was invented at Bell Labs by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley. Much smaller than vacuum tubes and consuming only a fraction of the energy, the transistor was able to switch currents on and off at substantially higher speeds.

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