Bell Telephone Laboratories Salutes Three New Nobel Prize Winners
February 1957 Radio & Television News Article

February 1957 Radio & TV News

[Table of Contents] Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Radio & Television News, published 1919-1959. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.

Anyone visiting RF Cafe (other than by accident) almost certainly knows of Drs. Bardeen, Brattain and Shockley fame for their transistor invention while jointly working at the Bell Telephone Laboratories. The trio shared The Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956. Bell was so proud of their employees' efforts that they ran full page advertisements to boast of the accomplishment. This one appeared in the February 1957 edition of Radio & Television News. Alas, Ma Bell's moment of glory was a bit diminished by needing to add a footnote admitting that Drs. Bardeen and Shockley no longer work there. Note that while the ad says the transistor was announced in 1948, the first demonstration to Bell managers was in December of 1947.

Bell Telephone Laboratories Salutes Three New Nobel Prize Winners

Drs. John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain and William Shockley are honored for accomplishments at the Laboratories

(Left to right) Dr. John Bardeen*. Dr. William Shockley*, and Dr. Walter H. Brattain, shown at Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1948 with apparatus used in the early investigations which led to the invention of the transistor.

The 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to the three inventors of the transistor, for "investigations on semiconductors and the discovery of the transistor effect."

They made their revolutionary contribution to electronics while working at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, N. J. Discovery of the transistor was announced in 1948. Bell Laboratories is proud to have been able to provide the environment for this great achievement.

This is the second Nobel Prize awarded to Bell Telephone Laboratories scientists. In 1937 Dr. C. J. Davisson shared a Nobel Prize for his discovery of electron diffraction.

Such achievements reflect honor on all the scientists and engineers who work at Bell Telephone Laboratories. These men, doing research and development in a wide variety of fields, are contributing every day to the improvement of communications in America.

*Dr. Bardeen is now with the University of Illinois, and Dr. Shockley is with the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory of Beckman Instruments, Inc., Calif.

Bell Telephone Laboratories

World Center Of Communications Research And Development

Posted July 11, 2013