The Idea factory : bell labs and the great age of American innovation

Author

• Gertner, Jon

Additional Author(s)

-

Publisher

New York: Penguin Book Ltd., 2013

Language

English

ISBN

9780143122791

Series

Subject(s)

• BELL TELEPHONE LABORATORIES-HISTORY-20TH CENTURY
• CREATIVE ABILITY-UNITED STATES-HISTORY-20TH CENTURY
• INVENTORS-UNITED STATES-HISTORY-20TH CENTURY
• TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS-UNITED STATES-HISTORY-20TH CENTURY
• TELECOMMUNICATION-UNITED STATES-HISTORY-20TH CENTURY

Notes

. Bibliography: p. 409-412 . Index: p. 413-422

Abstract

From its beginnings in the 1920s until its demise in the 1980s, Bell Labs-officially, the research and development wing of AT&T-was the biggest, and arguably the best, laboratory for new ideas in the world. From the transistor to the laser, from digital communications to cellular telephony, it's hard to find an aspect of modern life that hasn't been touched by Bell Labs. In The Idea Factory, Jon Gertner traces the origins of some of the twentieth century's most important inventions and delivers a riveting and heretofore untold chapter of American history. At its heart this is a story about the life and work of a small group of brilliant and eccentric men-Mervin Kelly, Bill Shockley, Claude Shannon, John Pierce, and Bill Baker-who spent their careers at Bell Labs. Today, when the drive to invent has become a mantra, Bell Labs offers us a way to enrich our understanding of the challenges and solutions to technological innovation. Here, after all, was where the foundational ideas on the management of innovation were born.

Physical Dimension

Number of Page(s)

422 p.

Dimension

21 cm.

Other Desc.

ill.

Summary / Review / Table of Content

Wicked problems --
Oil drops --
West to East --
System --
War --
Solid state --
House of magic --
The informationist --
Man and machines --
Formula --
Silicon --
Empire --
An instigator --
On Crawford Hill --
Futures, real and imagined --
Mistakes --
Competition --
Apart --
Afterlives --
Inheritance --
Echoes.

Exemplar(s)

#	Accession No.	Call Number	Location	Status
1.	00862/17	384 Ger I	Library - 7th Floor	Available