Epic Disruptions

6

Another Big Bang

The Transistor’s Unexpected Path to Transformation

In 1948, three scientists posed for a picture to mark a discovery that would change the world. The picture would be blasted around the world in 1956, when the three shared the Nobel Prize. Can you spot the simmering tension in figure 6-1?

Figure 6-1

The Nobel Prize–winning inventors of the transistor

From left, John Bardeen, William Shockley, and Walter Brattain.

Source: Bell Telephone Magazine, August 1953.

It would be reasonable to assume that John Bardeen (standing, wearing glasses) was, in modern language, throwing shade at Walter Brattain (also standing) and his research ...