Springer Praxis Books More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/4097
J.B. Williams The Electronics Revolution Inventing the Future
J.B. Williams Offord Darcy St Neots Cambridgeshire, UK SPRINGER PRAXIS BOOKS IN POPULAR SCIENCE Springer Praxis Books ISBN 978-3-319-49087-8 DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-49088-5 ISBN 978-3-319-49088-5 (ebook) Library of Congress Control Number: 2017941217 Springer International Publishing AG 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover Design: Jim Wilkie Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Contents Acknowledgments... List of Figures... vii viii 1 Introduction... 1 2 Missed Opportunities: The Beginnings of Electronics... 5 3 From Wireless to Radio... 15 4 Seeing by Electricity: Development of Television... 24 5 Seeing a Hundred Miles: Radar... 37 6 The Box : Television Takes Over... 47 7 Spinning Discs: Recorded Music... 57 8 The Crystal Triode: The Transistor... 69 9 Pop Music: Youth Culture in the 1950s and 1960s... 81 10 From People to Machines: The Rise of Computers... 87 11 Chips into Everything: Integrated Circuits... 97 12 From Signboards to Screens: Displays... 108 13 Distributing Time: Clocks and Watches... 118 14 From Desktop to Pocket: Calculators... 126 15 Shrinking Computers: Microprocessors... 136 16 Instant Cooking: Microwave Ovens... 145 17 Essentials or Toys: Home Computers... 153 v
vi Contents 18 Computers Take Over the Workplace... 162 19 From Clerks to Xerography: Copiers... 171 20 Shrinking the World: Communication Satellites... 180 21 Personal Communicators: Mobile Phones... 194 22 Going Online: The Internet... 205 23 Glass to the Rescue: Fiber Optics... 215 24 Towards Virtual Money: Cards, ATMs and PoS... 226 25 Saving TV Programmes: Video Recording... 234 26 Electronics Invades Photography: Digital Cameras... 243 27 Seeing Inside the Body: Electronics Aids Medicine... 251 28 Knowing Where You Are: GPS... 260 29 The Electronics Revolution... 270 Bibliography... 275 Index... 279
Acknowledgments It would seem appropriate with the subject of this book that the Internet should have been such a vital tool during the writing. It was of enormous value in finding and retrieving hundreds of relevant articles from journals published throughout the twentieth century. In addition, many articles are published on the Internet alone. I would also like to thank: The enthusiasts who run the many online museums to show their collections. Wikipedia images for many useful pictures. The librarians of Cambridge University Library for leading me through some of the byways of their collections. Clive Horwood for his encouragement, Maury Solomon particularly when it became necessary to split an overlong book, and Elizabet Cabrera. Jim and Rachael Wilkie for turning the manuscript into a book with the cover design and editing. My referees Robert Martin-Royle, Dr Andrew Wheen, Myrene Reyes and Professor Graeme Gooday for their positive comments which made me feel that the nearly 5 years work had been worthwhile. Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank my wife who has, without realizing it, taught me so much about history. vii
List of Figures Fig. 2.1 Geissler tube... 6 Fig. 2.2 Fleming... 8 Fig. 2.3 Lee de Forest... 9 Fig. 2.4 Gustave Ferrié... 12 Fig. 3.1 Modulation... 17 Fig. 3.2 Post Office wireless licenses... 18 Fig. 3.3 Households with Radios and electricity... 21 Fig. 4.1 Rosing s television transmitter and receiver... 26 Fig. 4.2 Baird with early television... 28 Fig. 4.3 Baird Televisor and image... 29 Fig. 4.4 Baird studio... 31 Fig. 4.5 Alexandra palace opening ceremony and camera... 33 Fig. 5.1 Chain Home radar... 40 Fig. 5.2 Experimental cavity magnetron... 42 Fig. 6.1 Decline in cinema attendance and rise of TV... 50 Fig. 6.2 Households with B&W and color TV... 53 Fig. 7.1 Emile Berliner... 58 Fig. 7.2 The composer Elgar recording... 60 Fig. 7.3 Sales of recorded music in the UK... 63 Fig. 8.1 Brattain, Shockley and Bardeen... 71 Fig. 8.2 First point contact Transistor... 72 Fig. 8.3 Growth in Transistor sales... 78 Fig. 9.1 Number of teenagers in the UK... 82 Fig. 10.1 Babbage s Analytical Engine... 88 Fig. 10.2 Number of computers on the UK... 94 viii
List of Figures ix Fig. 11.1 Rise of integrated circuits... 102 Fig. 11.2 Gordon Moore s original law... 103 Fig. 11.3 Semiconductor sales by value... 105 Fig. 12.1 Different shaped fours... 110 Fig. 12.2 Vacuum fluorescent display... 111 Fig. 12.3 Light Emitting Diode display... 112 Fig. 13.1 Sales of watches... 123 Fig. 14.1 Arithmometer and Comptometer... 127 Fig. 14.2 Scientific calculator... 132 Fig. 14.3 Growth of Casio calculator sales... 133 Fig. 15.1 Main sections of a Computer... 137 Fig. 15.2 Annual production of Microcontrollers... 141 Fig. 15.3 Penetration of microprocessors into everyday life... 143 Fig. 16.1 Rise of microwave ovens... 149 Fig. 17.1 Growth of home computers... 159 Fig. 18.1 The IBM PC takes over... 164 Fig. 18.2 The rise of computers in the US... 167 Fig. 18.3 The rise of computers in the UK... 168 Fig. 19.1 Chester Carlson and prototype copier... 175 Fig. 19.2 Placements of copiers in the UK... 176 Fig. 20.1 Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Hermann Oberth and Robert H Goddard... 181 Fig. 20.2 Telstar... 185 Fig. 20.3 Intelsat 1 Early Bird... 187 Fig. 20.4 Cumulative satellite launches... 188 Fig. 20.5 Increase in communications satellite capacity... 191 Fig. 21.1 Forecasts for 1907; portable wireless phones... 195 Fig. 21.2 Mobile phone cells... 197 Fig. 21.3 Rise in mobile cell phone subscriptions... 201 Fig. 22.1 Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn... 209 Fig. 22.2 Access to the Internet... 212 Fig. 23.1 Collodon s experiment... 217 Fig. 23.2 Rise of fibre optic cable capacity... 223 Fig. 24.1 Check (cheque) characters... 227 Fig. 24.2 Numbers of ATM machines... 230 Fig. 24.3 Numbers of Point of Sale machines... 231 Fig. 25.1 Video cassettes... 236 Fig. 25.2 Rise of video cassette recorders... 238 Fig. 25.3 Rental and sales of video cassettes in the UK... 239
x List of Figures Fig. 27.1 An early ECG machine... 252 Fig. 27.2 Emi1001, the original EMI head scanner... 255 Fig. 28.1 John Harrison... 261 Fig. 28.2 GPS satellite over the earth and a Constellation of GPS satellites... 268 Fig. 29.1 Millennium Bug... 271