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John Bardeen, Ph.D. (1908-1991) William Shockley, Ph.D. (1910-1989) Walter Brattain, Ph.D. (1902-1987) AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill The solid-state electronic age was born in 1947 when the AT&T Bell Labs scientists invented the transistor. The invention of the transistor resulted from basic research in the theoretical and experimental physics of solids, specifically on the properties of semiconductors. Transistors detect, specify, rectify and switch electric currents. They are tiny, relatively cheap, highly reliable, and use very little power. These properties have made possible digital computers, space flight, electric guitars, pocket calculators, heartbeat regulators, hearing aids, electronic watches and solid-state television, radios and hi-fi sets among countless other consumer products. The industries involved in these products employ millions of people worldwide, and their output amounts to many billions of dollars annually. For their pioneering research, Bardeen, Shockley and Brattain were awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics. Dr. Bardeen won a second Nobel Prize in 1972 for co-developing a low-temperature superconductor theory.