The Transistor
T
he invention of the transistor changed electronics. It,
more than anything else, made the personal computer
possible.
A transistor is a tiny electronic device that uses silicon to
conduct the flow of electricity. Silicon keeps electricity flow-
ing in one direction, which is why transistors are also known
as semiconductors.
Before transistors were invented large vacuum tubes were
used to conduct the flow of electricity. Early computers,
which were gigantic, contained thousands of vacuum tubes.
Replacing vacuum tubes with transistors meant that elec-
tronic devices, including computers, could be made smaller.
Pocket-sized radios were one of the first products to use tran-
sistors. Today almost all electronic devices contain transistors.
Microchips, which serve as the brains of computers, are basi-
cally pieces of silicon embedded with thousands of transis-
tors.
William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain invent-
ed the transistor in 1947. The men won the Nobel Prize for
their invention in 1956.
microchips. It worked by following a program written on a punch
card, which slid into the device. The program made it light up
and beep every few minutes.
Fernandez, who was Woz’s neighbor, helped him build the
device, which eventually blew up. He wanted to show the
machine to Jobs, as well as introduce him to Woz. From the
start, the two Steves hit it off. Woz recalls:
I remember—Bill called Steve and had him come over to
his house. I remember Steve and I just sat on the sidewalk
in front of Bill’s house for the longest time just sharing
stories—mostly about pranks we’d pulled, and also what
kind of electronic designs we’d done. . . . So Steve came
into the garage and saw the computer (this was before it
A Difficult Start
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