Back to Results
Cover image of Electronics
Cover image of Electronics
Share this Title:

Electronics

The Life Story of a Technology

David L. Morton Jr. and Joseph Gabriel

Publication Date
Binding Type

Electronics provides a welcome, comprehensive history of one of the late twentieth century's greatest technologies: electronic devices. Some of them, the laser and the microchip for example, have become household words. Yet their origins and operation are largely unknown to the general public, remaining mysterious outside the field of engineering. Their advent brought about many of the most important historical developments in recent memory—the rise of television, the Cold War, the Space Race, the growth of Asian semiconductor manufacturers, and the emergence of the surveillance society.

Elect...

Electronics provides a welcome, comprehensive history of one of the late twentieth century's greatest technologies: electronic devices. Some of them, the laser and the microchip for example, have become household words. Yet their origins and operation are largely unknown to the general public, remaining mysterious outside the field of engineering. Their advent brought about many of the most important historical developments in recent memory—the rise of television, the Cold War, the Space Race, the growth of Asian semiconductor manufacturers, and the emergence of the surveillance society.

Electronics also relates the fascinating stories of how scientists and engineers created and commercialized such devices as the transistor, the Magnetron tube used to power microwave ovens, the CRT (cathode ray tube), the laser, the first integrated circuit, the microprocessor, and memory chips.

Reviews

Reviews

This book will allow the reader to become familiar with some of the basics of the technology that surrounds us all and will lead to questions about what can and should happen next.

About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9.25
Pages
216
ISBN
9780801887734
Illustration Description
12 halftones, 12 line drawings
Table of Contents

Preface
Timeline
1. The Origins of Electronics, 1900-1950
2. From lubes to Semiconductors
3. Microchips and Lasers
4. The Peak Years
5. The Triumph of Microelectronics
6. Conclusions
Glossary
Further Reading
In

Preface
Timeline
1. The Origins of Electronics, 1900-1950
2. From lubes to Semiconductors
3. Microchips and Lasers
4. The Peak Years
5. The Triumph of Microelectronics
6. Conclusions
Glossary
Further Reading
Index

Author Bios
Featured Contributor

David L. Morton Jr.

David L. Morton Jr. is a historian of technology with expertise in the history of sound recording, electronics, and electric power. He is the former research historian for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.