History of Science & Technology

[Transistors & Semi-Conductors]

Group of the Earliest Publications by the Originators of Transistor Technology

Cryptocurrency Accepted

Live auction begins on:

July 15, 06:00 PM GMT

Estimate

10,000 - 20,000 USD

Bid

7,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

6 Items:

1. JOHN BARDEEN & WALTER BRATTAIN. “The Transistor, A Semi-Conductor Triode,” In: The Physical Review Second Series, Vol. 74, No. 2, pp 230-231. Lancaster, PA: American Philosophical Society, July 15, 1948. 4to (260 x 185; 10 3/16 x 7 3/16 inches), bound as part of a larger collection in brick-red cloth. Cloth faded, library marks. Provenance: Amherst College Library (discarded).

2. “The Transistor – A New Amplifier,” In Electrical Engineering Volume 67, Number 8, p. 740. New York: American Institute of Electrical Engineers, August 1948. 4to (296 x 223 mm; 11 5/8 x 8 ¾ inches). Original pictorial wrappers. Spine with creases, some edgewear.

3. JOHN BARDEEN & WALTER BRATTAIN. “Physical Principles Involved in Transistor Action” In: The Bell System Technical Journal, Vol. XXVIII, No. 2, pp 239-277. New York: American Telephone and Telegraph Company, April 1949. 8vo (228 x 153 mm; 9 x 6 inches). Original printed blue wrappers. Ownership signature to front wrapper, “GENL. FACILITIES ENGR.-STAFF” stamp to opening page, holes punched near spine, light spine creases and rubbing, very good overall.

4. JOHN BARDEEN. “On the Theory of the A-C. Impedance of a Contact Rectifier” & SHOCKLEY, WILLIAM. “The Theory of p-n Junctions in Semiconductors and p-n Junction Transistors.” In: The Bell System Technical Journal, Vol. XXVIII, No. 3, pp 428-434 & 435-489. New York: American Telephone and Telegraph Company, July 1949. 8vo (228 x 153 mm; 9 x 6 inches). Original printed blue wrappers. Ownership signature to front wrapper, spine creased and somewhat rubbed, very good overall.

5. The Transistor. Selected Reference Material on Characteristics & Applications. New York: Bell Telephone Laboratories for Western Electric, [1951]. 4to (278 x 216 mm; 11 x 8 ½ inches). Original stiff printed wrappers. Ownership signature to title-page and to front wrapper, library stamps, skinning from removed label, creases and some edgewear to wrappers.

Transistor Technology. New York: Bell Telephone Laboratories & Western Electric Company, 1952. 2 volumes. 8vo (228 x 148 mm; 8 15/16 x 5 7/8 inches). Original green cloth stamped in black and gilt. Ownership stamps and signature to front free endpaper of each volume, tape covering “restricted” markings on cloth, spines somewhat darkened. LIMITED EDITION, no 510 of an undisclosed number of copies. Original restricted issue.

A group of the earliest publications on the transistor: John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter Brattain’s Nobel Prize-winning work on a solid state alternative to the vacuum tube. Included here is the July 1948 announcement of the discovery along with a comprehensive report as well as publications about its application. The breakthrough was made by a group of scientists working at Bell Labs, led by Shockley. It was a project that originated as a pre-war idea to create an electronic switch to replace both the vacuum tube and the relay switch then in use by the telephone system. The group, assembled after the close of WWII, attempted to use an electrical field to affect the conductivity of a semiconductor but were unable to yield any results until Bardeen, in 1946, suggested that a charge affected the surface electrons differently from those in the interior, trapping them. This inspired the team and led them, after slow, methodical success, to four patentable transistor designs. In 1956, Bardeen, Brattain and Shockley were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics "for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect." It was arguably the most important invention of the 20th century. Gertner, John. The Idea Factory. [New York]: Penguin, 2012.

Richard P. Feynman

Feynman's Lectures on Gravitation 1-16, Including the Original Transcriptions of Lectures 12-16 by Morinigo and Wagner, With Richard Feynman's Manuscript Notations, 1971

Estimate: 12,000 - 18,000 USD