bell labs and the great age of american innovation

In these pages, we learn how radar came to be, and lasers, transistors, satellites, mobile phones, and much more.Įven more important, Gertner reveals the forces that set off this explosion of creativity.

These ingenious, often eccentric men would become revolutionaries, and sometimes legends, whether for inventing radio astronomy in their spare time (and on the company's dime), riding unicycles through the corridors, or pioneering the principles that propel today's technology. New York Times Magazine writer Jon Gertner unveils the unique magic of Bell Labs through the eyes and actions of its scientists. It was, in effect, a factory of ideas whose workings have remained largely hidden until now. It was a citadel of science and scholarship as well as a hotbed of creative thinking.

Thirteen would go on to win Nobel prizes. At its peak, Bell Labs employed nearly fifteen thousand people, twelve hundred of whom had PhDs. Long before America's brightest scientific minds began migrating west to Silicon Valley, they flocked to this sylvan campus in the New Jersey suburbs built and funded by AT&T. Date: FebruAverage Customer Review: For Bulk Orders Call: 62 Description and Reviews From The Publisher: A sweeping, atmospheric history of Bell Labs that highlights its unparalleled role as an incubator of innovation and birthplace of the century's most influential technologies.īell Laboratories, which thrived from the 1920s to the 1980s, was the most innovative and productive institution of the twentieth century. The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation Jon Gertner Format: Paperback, 422pp.

Bell labs and the great age of american innovation