Bell Labs Kills Fundamental Physics Research 460
An anonymous reader writes with this snippet from Wired: "After six Nobel Prizes, the invention of the transistor, laser and countless contributions to computer science and technology, it is the end of the road for Bell Labs' fundamental physics research lab. Alcatel-Lucent, the parent company of Bell Labs, is pulling out of basic science, material physics and semiconductor research and will instead be focusing on more immediately marketable areas such as networking, high-speed electronics, wireless, nanotechnology and software." Jamie points out this list of Bell Labs' accomplishments at Wikipedia, including little things like the UNIX operating system.
Wired Article for those who care (Score:5, Informative)
Well come AT&T Bell Labotomy (Score:3, Informative)
Bell Labs didn't invent the Transistor (Score:5, Informative)
Here's this old myth being repeated once more.
Sorry, Bell Labs never invented the transistor. The transistor had been invented (and patented) back in the 1920's. It was in use during WWII (see "A Different Kind of War" by Commodore Myles).
What Bell Labs DID invent was the SILICON transistor. And of course this was an incredible breakthrough.
Unfortunately, they also have tried claiming complete credit for the creation of the transistor in general, by propagating the myth that no transistors existed before the invention of the Silicon Transistor.
Please get your facts right, as it's a discredit to the people who did the original pioneering work in this field. Thanks.
Re:The End (Score:4, Informative)
I've seen so many of the big labs die. I happened to be at IBM Alamaden the day IBM exited the disk drive business, a sad day and the beginning of the end for Alamaden. Who in American industry is still doing basic research?
Well, IBM still is [ibm.com], and on a lot cooler stuff that just disk drives.
Re:The End (Score:3, Informative)
Umm... like who? Hell, what startup has the funds to perform basic materials science, anyway? Do you understand the kind of research facilities and monetary outlay required to study nanotechnology or materials science?
Re:Bell Labs didn't invent the Transistor (Score:3, Informative)
As a researcher in nanotech: (Score:5, Informative)
Pulling out from materials science research AND focus on nanotechnology and high-speed electronics? That's nonsense.
Look at Intel: what keeps them one step ahead from an otherwise very creative company as AMD, (apart from the great team Intel has in Haifa) is huge and continuous investments in materials science. A little bit less electromigration, a bit better control of dielectric coefficients, a few nanometers less here and there - it all adds up.
As a researcher in nanotechnology, I have huge, HUGE respect for my materials science colleagues (as well as physical chemists).
Re:Bell Labs didn't invent the Transistor (Score:1, Informative)
It was patented by
Julius Edgar Lilienfeld [wikipedia.org] in 1925.
See also
the Wikipedia Entry for the Transistor [wikipedia.org]
Re:Bell Labs didn't invent the Transistor (Score:2, Informative)
It was patented by
Julius Edgar Lilienfeld [wikipedia.org] in 1925.
That's the field effect transistor, while the Bell Labs team supervised by William Shockley invented the bipolar transistor. Different things, different principles of operation.
So feel free to get *your* facts straight.
Re:Six Sigma (Score:5, Informative)
from Wikipedia:
In 1924, Bells Labs physicist Dr. Walter A. Shewhart proposed the control chart as a method to determine when a process was in a state of statistical control. Shewart's methods were the basis for statistical process control (SPC) - the use of statistically-based tools and techniques for the management and improvement of processes. This was the origin of the modern quality movement, including Six Sigma.
Re:therefore (Score:5, Informative)
I'm 29. I'm from India. I've lived in America for the last 6 years. Your advisor must be smoking something good. Please ask him to stop.
USA? (Score:5, Informative)
Why is this tagged USA? Alcatel-Lucent is a French company.
Re:therefore (Score:4, Informative)
Negative.
Nanotech is on the leading edge of engineering disciplines, but is hardly pure science, unless you're talking about atomic or quantum level manipulation of matter.
The idea of making really small electronics and things are really not fundamental science questions, but just a matter of refining manufacturing techniques.
Re:Is anyone else concerned... (Score:5, Informative)
It's true that the Ivy League Schools and MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, CalTech are amazing places to do research. I wouldn't want to leave my beautiful old and very good university in the old world for a random place in the States, though. I find it funny how more or less every American I come across maintains a belief that his particular alma mater is "a very good school" and "everybody is trying to get a place there".
Re:Are you kidding me? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Greed. (Score:3, Informative)
Can modern Italians read poets like Virgil or Horace in the original Latin? Not without extensive, specialized education. Whereas any modern Chinese with basic literacy can read and understand the Book of Songs, which contains poetry from periods even earlier than the Qin.
Re:therefore (Score:5, Informative)
Re:USA? (Score:4, Informative)
Because AT+T/Bell and (pre-buyout) Lucent were US companies?
-JS
Re:Are you kidding me? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:therefore (Score:3, Informative)
Re:therefore (Score:3, Informative)
Any information I get about India is not from some newspaper or from someone who spent a few weeks there to write a book.
So, I think I know a lot more about what is going on in India than many people here.
Re:Bell Labs didn't invent the Transistor (Score:1, Informative)
I wasn't arguing that the first FET was not a transistor, but that the design was not viable from a commercial point of view. FETs did not see any real use until the development of silicon models, much later.
The BJT however was the workhorse of modern electronics for quite a while, and was the first viable transistor. It could actually be mass produced.
As for the OPs statement about Bell Labs inventing the silicon transistor, that's bullshit, as Shockley's design was germanium based, as were most semiconductor devices from that period.
It's kind of sad how reading about lions and monkeys on Wikipedia doesn't qualify you to be a vet though, isn't it?