This week’s issue [18 November 2022] on the 75th anniversary of the transistor describes a triumph of both basic and applied science. What started out as studies on the fundamental physics of silicon led to the device that makes it possible to read this article online.
A transistor - a word combination of transfer and resistor - is a semiconductor device that amplifies or switches electrical signals, and it is one of the building blocks of modern electronics. Trillions of transistors are embedded in electronic devices on Earth and in space.