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Morris Tanenbaum, inventor of the silicon transistor, has died

spectrum.ieee.org

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Re: Morris Tanenbaum, inventor of the silicon transistor, has died

#51

Post by jschveibinz »

If you haven’t read “The Idea Factory” by Gertner, it’s really worth the time. The book is well written and it covers a very exciting time in our technological progress. Dr. Tanenbaum is discussed in the book along with the rest of the dream team at Bell Labs during those years.

Here is a book review if you are interested:

https://www.dau.edu/library/professional-reading-program/Pag...

Re: Morris Tanenbaum, inventor of the silicon transistor, has died

#53

Post by pclmulqdq »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #40

It seems the headline is a bit editorialized with 'Microchip' as he does not seem to have been involved with subsequent developments of the integrated circuit, what microchips commonly refer to. Though, after checking, there apparently are no clear cut 'inventors' of the integrated circuit, which strikes me as a bit odd.

Kilby from TI is often credited as inventing the integrated circuit. But so is Noyce. And a few others. I think Kilby is actually the correct answer.

Re: Morris Tanenbaum, inventor of the silicon transistor, has died

#55

Post by analog31 »

intrasight wrote: post #54

I went looking for a recent estimate of the number of transistors that have been manufactured. It appears to be in the range of 10^23. I'm pretty sure there in nothing else anyone has invented that has been replicated in such volume.

Wow, nearly a mole. I remember thinking that a mole of any "thing" was impossible.

Re: Morris Tanenbaum, inventor of the silicon transistor, has died

#57

Post by colordrops »

intrasight wrote: post #54

I went looking for a recent estimate of the number of transistors that have been manufactured. It appears to be in the range of 10^23. I'm pretty sure there in nothing else anyone has invented that has been replicated in such volume.

What about bits on drive platters? Do they count as individually manufactured units?

Re: Morris Tanenbaum, inventor of the silicon transistor, has died

#58

Post by tomnipotent »

colordrops wrote: post #57
intrasight wrote: post #54

I went looking for a recent estimate of the number of transistors that have been manufactured. It appears to be in the range of 10^23. I'm pretty sure there in nothing else anyone has invented that has been replicated in such volume.

What about bits on drive platters? Do they count as individually manufactured units?

For a modern SSD, it requires several transistors to store a byte so it's still transistors all the way down.

Re: Morris Tanenbaum, inventor of the silicon transistor, has died

#59

Post by intrasight »

phkahler wrote: post #21
woodruffw wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we would have ended up here anyways: to assume that the silicon transistor would not have been invented without Morris Tanenbaum is to succumb to the Great Man theory[1]. The reality is that Morris was a brilliant man whose life intersected in the right place and time with the arc of history; we should celebrate his life and contributions for that, and not because we think that we'd be stuck in 1950 without t…

Not sure but I think the question is more like "what if physics didn't allow transistors?" rather than if one guy didn't invent them. What's the next best thing, and how far would we have pushed it?

> what if physics didn't allow transistors?"

Yes, because technology is discovered more than invented, this is a more interesting question. What are some others?

What if biology didn't allow anesthetics? Or antibiotics?

What if geology hadn't split up Pangea?

Is there life because of a hospitable environment, or does a hospitable environment exist because of life?

Just a quick list. I'm sure readers can add.

Re: Morris Tanenbaum, inventor of the silicon transistor, has died

#60

Post by hyperthesis »

woodruffw wrote: post #12
cubefox wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is interesting to think about about alternative history here: If microchip technology had never been invented for some reason, what would we have developed instead? What is the next best computing technology?

I think we would have ended up here anyways: to assume that the silicon transistor would not have been invented without Morris Tanenbaum is to succumb to the Great Man theory[1]. The reality is that Morris was a brilliant man whose life intersected in the right place and time with the arc of history; we should celebrate his life and contributions for that, and not because we think that we'd be stuck in 1950 without t…

Inventions often seem to be simultaneous, as if the time had come for this problem to be recognized, and for the solution to be possible. However, I do think in some cases, a "great man" can make an invention earlier than otherwise - we should measure genius in units of time.

We wouldn't be stuck in 1950 without him... but maybe we'd now be in 2018 without him.

OTOH the "great man" fallacy encourages the intense and unpredictable work required for many inventions - why undermine that?

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