Technology
How the invention of the transistor shaped modern computing and electronics
A technical retrospective tracks the progression of electronic switches from 19th-century relays and vacuum tubes to semiconductor transistors.
The short version
- Transistors replaced early mechanical relays and fragile vacuum tubes as the fundamental switching components in electronics.
- Semiconductor technology enabled massive miniaturization and lower power consumption relative to early computing components.
- Modern digital electronics rely on billions of transistors per device, compared to the handful used in early radios.
Key facts
- Electric relays were introduced in 1835 to act as mechanical switches using an electric current to control another current across telegraph lines.[Wired]
- Vacuum tubes, developed around 1905, enabled variable electronic amplification and early computer logic gates without mechanical moving parts.[Wired]
- Bell Labs invented the transistor in 1947, addressing the high power usage, fragility, and physical bulk of vacuum tube systems.[Wired]
- While early portable radios in the 1950s and 1960s functioned on six to 10 transistors, modern smartphone chips like the iPhone 17 Pro incorporate up to 30 billion.[Wired]
Sources
- Transistors Changed Everything. Here’s How They WorkWired metered