The roots of solid‐state research at Bell Labs
DOI: 10.1063/1.3037450
Solid‐state physics has experienced a dramatic growth in the last four decades; whereas in the 1920’s the term “solid‐state physics” was not yet in use, this is now the single most populated sub‐field of physics. Much of this growth has taken place in industry, so that today a small number of industrial laboratories are producing a substantial fraction of contributions in the field.
This article is only available in PDF format
References
1. See, for example, A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System, The Early Years (1875–1925) (M. Fagan, ed.), Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, N.J. (1975).
2. Autobiography of Robert A. Millikan, Prentice‐Hall, New York (1950), page 117.
3. J. Mills, Bell Tel. Quart. 19, 13 (1940).
4. L. Germer, “The discovery of electron diffraction,” (unpublished memorandum), reel 66, Archives for the History of Quantum Physics (available at AIP, New York; Amer. Philos. Soc., Philadelphia; Niels Bohr Inst., Copenhagen; University of California, Berkeley).
5. R. Gehrenbeck, Clinton Davisson, Lester Germer and the Discovery of Electron Diffraction, doctoral thesis, University of Minnesota (1973).
6. W. Brattain, J. Becker, Phys. Rev. 45, 696 (1934).https://doi.org/PHRVAO
7. Interview with W. Brattain by A. Holden and W. J. King, January 1964, Oral History Collection, AIP Niels Bohr Library, New York.
8. Interview with R. Sears by L. Hoddeson, 14 July 1975, Oral History Collection, AIP Niels Bohr Library, New York.
9. Interview with W. Brattain by C. Weiner, 28 May 1974, Oral History Collection, AIP Niels Bohr Library, New York.
10. Interview with F. Nix by L. Hoddeson, 27 June 1975, Oral History Collection, AIP Niels Bohr Library, New York.
11. Interview with J. Burton by L. Hoddeson, 22 July 1974, Oral History Collection, AIP Niels Bohr Library, New York.
More about the authors
Lillian Hartmann Hoddeson, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
