Herbert Mataré

Born on 22 September 1912 in Aachen, Germany, Herbert Mataré was a physicist known for cutting-edge research in semiconductors, electronics, and solar power. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Geneva, a doctorate in electrical engineering at the Technical University of Berlin, and a doctorate in physics from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. During World War II, Mataré conducted research on radar technology for the German military. It was that work that led him and his research partner, Heinrich Welker, to start developing a semiconductor device they called a “transistron.” After the war, they continued their work at the Westinghouse laboratory in Paris. Unknown to them, however, researchers at Bell Labs in the US were developing a strikingly similar device—the transistor—which they successfully demonstrated in December 1947, just two months before Mataré and Welker made their own announcement. Unfortunately for Mataré, the Americans gained the patent and eventually were awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics. Undeterred, Mataré continued to work at Westinghouse until it was closed in 1952. He then returned to Germany, where he founded a company called Intermetall and developed the first transistor radio. When Intermetall’s funding ran out, Mataré moved to the US and worked for several companies in the semiconductor industry before starting his own, very successful consulting business in the 1970s. He continued to consult into his 90s, on such projects as a large photovoltaic array in southern California. Mataré died in 2011 at age 98. (Photo credit: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives/Gift of Herbert Mataré, 1995)

Date in History: 22 September 1912