Consultant to Industry, Adviser to Government

John Bardeen spent more than 80% of his post‐PhD years in university positions, including his last 40 years at the University of Illinois. He might therefore justifiably be considered an academic scientist. But it was at the Bell Telephone Laboratories that John coinvented the transistor, which because of its enormous impact on modern technology was the work for which he was most widely known. Consequently, throughout John’s career his views and advice on science and technology were continually sought by industry and government. John’s work and ideas in these nonacademic spheres are the focus of this article.

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