Proceedings of the I.R.E. Vol. 40, no. 11 (November 1952). THE TRANSISTOR ISSUE
Menasha, Wisconsin: Institute of Radio Engineers, Inc. November, 1952. First Edition. 1A-64A (ads), [2], 1283-1632, 65A-176A (ads) pages. 4to (8 1/2 x 11 inches). Pictorial wrappers. Previous owner's name (Martin Kite, WGN-TV) in a number of places. Lower part of spine and some cover edges taped with cellotape. Soiled covers overall. Clean internally, noting occasional owner name. Very Good. Wraps. [28054]
Designated the "Transistor issue" on its front wrapper, this special issue of the IRE Proceedings contains forty-eight papers on the subject of transistors. The transistor was invented in 1948 at Bell Labs, and by 1950 (when Shockley's Electrons and Holes in Semiconductors was published) transistor electronics were coming into their own, out of the laboratory. This issue is interesting to those who study the evolution of electronics, as it deals with many issues that naturally arise when new discoveries leave the laboratory and military applications, and push out into the commercial sphere. Shockley contributes two articles: "Transistor Electronics: Imperfections, Unipolar and Analog Transistors"" (p1289, manuscript received by the Institute Aug 26, 1952) and "A Unipolar 'Field Effect' Transistor" (p 1365, manuscript received by the Institute Aug 18, 1952). J. M. Early, J. N. Shive, Slade, Armstrong and others also contributed articles.
The Transistor Issue was a special issue of the Proceedings, the second in their history. Page 1283 contains a short abstract about why the Board of Directors of the IRE felt this issue was so important. Among other things, they note "Upon its emergence four years ago, the transistor promised to be one of the truly major advances, even in an art which has been accustomed to giant-stride progress. The fulfillment of this promise, however, depended on the difficult task of determining how to transform the transistor from a laboratory oddity to a practical devices which could be manufactured uniformly and in quantity....[we] have, nevertheless...gathered here a large selection of significant and instructive original papers covering both theory and practice, which it is believed will constitute a substantial and timely contribution to knowleldge and expansion of this new and important field." (the editor) Almost as important to this writer is the huge collection of advertising in this issue - some 176 pages worth, detailing the many companies pursuing electronics and related supply chain opportunities at the time.
"William Bradford Shockley Jr. (February 13, 1910 – August 12, 1989) was an American physicist and inventor. Shockley was the manager of a research group at Bell Labs that included John Bardeen and Walter Brattain. The three scientists were jointly awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for "their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect". (wiki)
Oddly, not in Origins of Cyberspace. Getting harder to find in the original wrappers - bound volumes of the Proceedings of the IRE are more common (and often do not have the advertisements bound in).
ITEM SOLD