Strategic Curiosity: Semiconductor Physics in the 1950s
DOI: 10.1063/1.881450
When I arrived at the General Electric Research Laboratory at the beginning of 1955, fresh from a PhD at Cornell, I was greeted by my supervisor, Leroy Apker, who looked after the semiconductor section of the general physics department. I asked him to suggest some research topics that might be germane to the interests of the section. He said that what I did was entirely up to me. After recovering from my surprise, I asked, “Well, how are you going to judge my performance at the end of the year?” He replied, “Oh, I’ll just call up the people at Bell and ask them how they think you are doing.” Viewed from today’s environment, what is particularly hard to understand about this conversation is how an industrial laboratory, responsible to the operating units of the company and to the stockholders, could afford to take such a relaxed view.
This article is only available in PDF format
References
1. B. Mikulski, speech at Office of Science and Technology Policy Forum on Science in the National Interest, 31 January 1994, available from the office of B. Mikulski, US Senate.
2. D. J. Kevles, The Physicists, Random House, New York (1979).
3. Electronics 53, 9, 215 (1980). https://doi.org/ELECAD
See also E. Braun, in Out of the Crystal Maze: Chapters from the History of Solid‐State Physics, L. Hoddeson, E. Braun, J. Teichmann, S. Weart, eds., Oxford U.P., New York (1992) p. 443.4. E. Braun, in Out of the Ciystal Maze: Chapters from the History of Solid‐State Physics, L. Hoddeson, E. Braun, J. Teichmann, S. Weart, eds., Oxford U.P., New York (1992), p. 463.
5. C. Herring, Bell Syst. Tech. J. 34, 237 (1955).https://doi.org/BSTJAN
6. H. Brooks, Adv. Electron. Electron Phys. 7, 87 (1955).https://doi.org/AEEPAR
7. H. C. Torrey, C. A. Whitmer, Crystal Rectifiers, McGraw‐Hill, New York (1948), pp. 65, 72–73.
8. W. Shockley, Electrons and Holes in Semiconductors, Van Nostrand, New York (1950).
9. Physica 20, 801 (1954).https://doi.org/PHYSAG
10. J. Phys. Chem. Solids 8 (1959).https://doi.org/JPCSAW
11. J. Bardeen, in Proc. Int. Conf. on Semiconductors, Czechoslovak Acad. Sci., Prague (1961).
12. W. Shockley, in discussion, Proc. IEEE 106, 1153 (1959).https://doi.org/IEEPAD
13. H. Brooks, Res. Policy 23, 477 (1994).https://doi.org/REPYBP
14. Science 261, 1513 (1993).https://doi.org/SCIEAS
15. “Science in the National Interest,” Office of Science and Technology Policy, Washington, D.C. (August 1994).
16. L. Hoddeson, Technol. Culture 22, 512 (1981).
17. R. N. Hall, quoted in J. Hecht, The Laser Pioneers, Academic San Diego (1992), p. 177.
More about the Authors
Henry Ehrenreich. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
