Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares to leave N.J. home

Post by diggan » Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 7:09 PM UTC

mk_stjames wrote: post #32

Lyngbakr wrote: post #21

I'm currently halfway through The Idea Factory: Bell Labs & the Great Age of American Innovation by Jon Gertner. The stories and characters behind all the inventions and ideas are absolutely fascinating, as is the culture they cultivated there. Definitely recommended!

I came here to recommend this book as the title of this article mirrors its title's key descriptor. It's one of my favorite books; throughout my time reading it I would periodically put it down and just sit with awe in imagining the science and the work happening there throughout the years depicted. I need to sit down and read it again; but I'm afraid to, as in a way it just gives me this odd sense of mixed unfounded…

Post by viscousviolin » Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 7:33 PM UTC

photochemsyn wrote: post #28

This article - a retrospective puff piece - entirely neglects the circumstances leading to the loss of relevance of Bell Labs. It's explained in the autoposy of one of the greatest scientific frauds (fabricated nanoelectronic devices made of organic carbon materials e.g. pentacene) of the past few decades [1]: > "For over half a century, Bell Labs had been owned by the telephone monopoly AT&T and had plenty of money…

Post by polishdude20 » Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 7:41 PM UTC

tomcam wrote: post #44

lgkk wrote: post #37

I have walked those halls and let me tell you it feels spooky in a good way to know a lot of groundbreaking work was done there. During the time I was on campus it was mostly empty. There were old computers still inside some rooms. I felt like I had been transported to the 80s or 90s in one hall and some halls even more decades in the past. Really grand. I can’t imagine what it was like in its heyday.

I’m not a nostalgic person, but for some reason I wish irrationally that that Murray Hill building could be preserved as is. I read so much about of it in the history of computing, and just like (from the pictures) the building interior itself so much I just feel like I missed out on some thing not to have been there myself. I was lucky enough to work at Microsoft in building 2, one of 8 matching buildings from the m…

Post by HarHarVeryFunny » Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 7:50 PM UTC

whimsicalism wrote: post #26

user_7832 wrote: post #2

I have a question for anyone in an R&D/Bell Labs-esque place - are there any good recommendations for similar places to work, particularly outside the US? "Old" Google apparently was, but going by what ex-googlers have been saying it hasn't been the case for a long while now.

Any prestige research lab - MS, Google, OAI, etc.

Post by dimator » Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 7:55 PM UTC

tomcam wrote: post #46

lgkk wrote: post #37

I have walked those halls and let me tell you it feels spooky in a good way to know a lot of groundbreaking work was done there. During the time I was on campus it was mostly empty. There were old computers still inside some rooms. I felt like I had been transported to the 80s or 90s in one hall and some halls even more decades in the past. Really grand. I can’t imagine what it was like in its heyday.

I’m not a nostalgic person, but for some reason I wish irrationally that that Murray Hill building could be preserved as is. I read so much about of it in the history of computing, and just like (from the pictures) the building interior itself so much I just feel like I missed out on some thing not to have been there myself. I was lucky enough to work at Microsoft in building 2, one of 8 matching buildings from the m…