

How Europe Missed The Transistor - Ras_
http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/devices/how-europe-missed-the-transistor

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jacquesm
Europe did not so much 'miss the transistor' because of a lack of
inventiveness or the fact that they they'd already almost discovered it for
any other reason than that recovering from the greatest war to that date
Europe in 1948 was absolutely no match for any other country that had managed
to stay in one piece.

What should amaze more I think is how much was achieved in fields not directly
related to rebuilding in that period, in spite of that gigantic handicap.

The winter of '44 was one of the worst famines in living memory and by '48 the
continent was still very much in recovery mode.

Also a lot of the achievements that put the US firmly on the map as the world
leader in technology after the war were in fact pioneered in Germany during
the war.

Not in the least the rocket technology that led to the successful moonshot.

Edit: reading further down in the article it's funny how they try to patent
something they _know_ for sure is already working and invented elsewhere.

The article also seems to contradict itself slightly, because the European
device was unstable until they learned about the American one and the
explanation behind the physics of it, but in the conclusion it writes: "And it
seems clear from the still-sketchy historical record that they indeed had a
working, reliable amplifier by that time." but the rest of the article has no
real arguments underpinning that statement.

Very interesting read though.

~~~
dantheman
I think it's important to mention that the technology was not just pioneered
in germany, but the actual pioneers moved to the US.

~~~
jacquesm
You are absolutely right about that. I'm sorry, I can't mod you up or I would
have.

Werner von Braun is an interesting case all by himself because anybody else in
Germany with as much standing in the Nazi party and use of concentration camp
resources for their research would have surely been executed after a swift
trial in Neuremberg.

Instead von Braun was made a naturalized citizen of the US in '55.

Lots of other info here: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun>

~~~
jordanb
The Japanese Unit 731 "scientists" also got off lightly[1], in exchange for
their data.

If you want to commit atrocities and avoid the war crimes tribunal, do them
within the context of science.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731>

As an aside, it's also worth observing that many people _fleeing_ Europe
before the war -- such as Enrico Fermi and Albert Einstein -- made massive
contributions to American science efforts both during and after the war.

~~~
jacquesm
"MacArthur secretly granted immunity to the physicians of Unit 731 in exchange
for providing America with their research on biological warfare.[7]"

Disgusting.

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mixmax
_"What is arguably the most important invention of the 20th century remarkably
occurred twice--and independently."_

This is actually quite normal, as any patent attorney will tell you. The
telephone is another well known exammple of this occurring. (Alexander Graham
Bell and Elisha Gray) It seems that nothing can stop an idea whose time has
come, it's just a matter of who will get the rewards.

~~~
jacquesm
Another good reason for the total abolishment of patents.

Almost every patentable invention is but a minor advance in the state of the
art.

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teeja
Interesting ... hadn't seen much of that before.

Once again I have to wonder why such articles ignore Lilienfield's work (from
20 years before)

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Edgar_Lilienfeld>

and how he profited (if at all) from his patents.

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jeroen
Single page: [http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/devices/how-
europe-m...](http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/devices/how-europe-
missed-the-transistor/0)

