May 31, 2020
The transistor changed the world. It made small, complex, and cheap computing possible. But it wasn't the first attempt to crack the case. There is a long and strange lineage of similar devices leading up to the transistor. In this episode we take a look at two of those devices. First the vacuum tube, one of the first components that made computing possible. Then the cryotron, the first device purpose built for computers.
You can find the full audio of Atanasoff's talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxrcp1QSPvw
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Important dates in this episode:
1880: Thomas Edison Rediscovers Thermionic Emission
1904: Ambrose Fleming Invents the Vacuum Tube
1906: Lee de Forest Patents the Audion Triode Tube
1937: George Stibitz Creates First Binary Adding Circuit from Spare
Relays
1938: John Atanasoff Visits a 'Honkey-Tonk'
1941: ABC, First Vacuum Tube Calculator, is Completed
1953: Cryotron Invented by Dudley Allen Buck
