They don't even have basic electrical and electronics electives in most school districts now.

I doubt it is human that invented this. Humans are too dumb and don't live long enough to learn enough.

agreed.

Think they would be turning in their graves in they knew the extent to which semiconductor technology has invaded our lives - I;m sure they never intended it to spawn the surveillance society we now live in.

@@eric4709 William Shockley won the Nobel Prize for this research! Who could have suspected such an outcome?!? He *was* IQ.

​@@eric4709ya I'm sure they hate how many lives are saved and made more fulfilling with the advent of modern technology just because the government spies in a few aspects of our lives to stop terrorists and other violent crimes....

Happy 75th anniversary now?

But it was seen as relating to much to previous technology (vacuum tube) so they wisely rejected it.

He came up with the concept, yes. But it was not possible to do back then.

Maybe because Lilienfeld was never able to make a working device? Do you think that may have beeen a factor?

They're too busy reading about celebrities. Whomever the flavor of the year that the gossip is about. Watching material to help you grow mentally is not a thing that people do generally anymore.

Further proof our country gets dumber by the decade.

True, no one cares about the big brains involved behind the inventions. The human brain is simply unparalleled fast forward to today transistors raise children now

He retired

Yes Lou, that is exactly correct. Transistors are characterised in many different ways. One of those characteristics is "beta" which is a measurement of the "current gain" of the transistor. The beta of a typical good quality small signal junction transistor would be around 100. This means that if you send 1 electron into (or out of - transistors are made in both NPN and PNP polarities) the control element (the "base") of a transistor 100 electrons will flow in the output circuit (the "collector") assuming the external circuit makes the electrons available. The third connection of the transistor (the "emitter") is common to both the input and output circuits and will see a flow of 101 electrons. Beta is not a fixed number. Different types (part numbers) of transistors will have different betas and transistors of the same part number can have a range of betas and still be considered as meeting the specification for that part number. The beta of a given transistor will vary with temperature, voltage levels, and the amount of current flow among many other things.

Transistors are used to amplify as well. It's all about how they are wired(circuitry).

@@ShaunMcDngh How does it have this energy to do this amplification? If it is due to the matter used, does that matter eventually deplete?

@@louf7178 Basically a transistor can be used to control a larger voltage/current in a circuit from a smaller voltage/current. There are thousands of different transistors. Some are used to amplify voltage and some better for current, some are better switching applications(again controlling a voltage or current from another voltage or current).

The ol' Napster Cat is still lurking I see.

Yes, although "panel" usually means large. "Battery" is commonly used wrongly for "cell" (e.g. dry alkaline cell); a solar "cell" is probably commonly used wrongly because it is a battery of solar cells, and here it surely is a battery of solar cells (performing the similar function of dry cells). Again, a "panel" would be large e.g. on top of a house roof. There is use of common language terms here.

Such a great comment.

Doh!

Agreed but the potential remains. It all depends on how we use it.

Depends on how it's used

It was real. Do you want an overly dramatic, large, solitary stage presence where he "drops the mic' " at the end? - that is a millenial psychotic condition embellished by marketing, media and juvenile behavior.

oh yes i agree - refreshing kinda ... but it's kind of funny in contrast to everytihng that's so over-rehearsed now

These guys were PhD level science geeks. They were not trained presenters. I saw some videos with that look and feel when I was small, and I always thought they sounded cool yet serious.

Antibiotics nor Tesla AC couldn´t be controlled and massified without transistors... as well as many other things, from telecommunications to computers...

You mean the idea that black people are an intellectually inferior race? Or his proposition that those with an IQ lower than 100 should undergo sterilization? Cut the crap. He undoubtedly was a very smart man but his views regarding intelligence were all but ethical.

Your comment is totally irrelevant. You "came back" to post it? Waste of time.