the point contact transistor invented by a trio of Bell Labs Scientists
Toronto. And by all, we mean digital photography, not the 1839 analogue photography (metal, glass, film, paper plus liquid solutions). When radio and electronics began early last century, vacuum tubes did not exist. A few years later, on into the mid last century, vacuum tubes were invented and systematically improved and reduced in size. But even the smallest of vacuum tubes was far too big and limited in function for use in this century.
In 1947, Bell Labs in New Jersey announced the invention of the transistor (TRANSfer resISTOR). At 1/10 the size of a miniature vacuum tube, it replaced a triode tube in audio amplifiers. Transistors evolved rapidly, to geranium, then silicon, and both power handling, and the usable frequency continued to rise. To make operations even faster, integrated circuits with many transistors on a tiny chip came on the scene (This evolution affected makers too. For example, Intel began operations, not as a transistor company, but as a maker of integrated circuits).
Rapid miniaturization followed Moore’s law. Miniaturization and integration in each new design eventually resulted in literally millions of tiny transistors on a small chip. In the latter part of the last century we began to see solid state sensors which created full colour images from reflected sunlight and indoor lights. The image size was rated in pixels (Picture Elements).
Today even cell phones (smartphones) have solid state cameras built-in. Professionals and more advanced amateurs use digital cameras. Film cameras and technology is still in use by a small niche of enthusiasts who extol the quality of an analogue image over an image digitally created. For digital cameras, “development” is by computer applications either in the phone or on the desktop/laptop. Since digital camera began life nearly three decades ago, it is time we began collecting the pivotal designs before they become too expensive.
A down side to the speed and convenience of digital devices is the inability to get parts or repairs in later years whereas mechanical cameras can be repaired and continue to function well beyond their date of design, manufacture, and sale.
My thanks to good friend George Dunbar, for sharing the Popular Mechanics July 1952 ad by Bell Laboratories talking about the transistor four years after it was first announced. A few years later transistors became common in the retail market and in appliances of the day. Like photography itself, vacuum tube products and solid state devices were offered side by side for many years.
