Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Frank Koenig]

“The Idea Factory, Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation” by Jon Gertner (Penguin  Press, 2012).

I really enjoyed this book. It’s an exciting and exceedingly well-written history of Bell Labs, the industrial laboratory of AT&T, from its inception to its eventual slow, and perhaps tragic, unwinding. It describes the origins of information theory, the transistor, maser/laser, microwave communications, communication satellites, fiber optics and cellular telephony among other foundational technologies of our current world. It tells these stories primarily by following the lives of a handful of the great mathematicians, scientists, engineers and, yes, managers at Bell Labs. It gets deeply into the nature of discovery, invention and the unique organization and societal context that appears to have made this possible. The author is a journalist but nowhere, so far as I’m concerned, does he butcher the science, which is a rare achievement. Many of his observations ring true to my own very modest experiences in industrial research and, I might add, are contrary to some modern conceptions of how innovation should be enabled.

Anyway, I think many of you might find this interesting.

--Frank

[Ike Zimbel]

“The Idea Factory, Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation” by Jon Gertner (Penguin  Press, 2012).

I really enjoyed this book. It’s an exciting and exceedingly well-written history of Bell Labs, the industrial laboratory of AT&T, from its inception to its eventual slow, and perhaps tragic, unwinding. It describes the origins of information theory, the transistor, maser/laser, microwave communications, communication satellites, fiber optics and cellular telephony among other foundational technologies of our current world. It tells these stories primarily by following the lives of a handful of the great mathematicians, scientists, engineers and, yes, managers at Bell Labs. It gets deeply into the nature of discovery, invention and the unique organization and societal context that appears to have made this possible. The author is a journalist but nowhere, so far as I’m concerned, does he butcher the science, which is a rare achievement. Many of his observations ring true to my own very modest experiences in industrial research and, I might add, are contrary to some modern conceptions of how innovation should be enabled.

Anyway, I think many of you might find this interesting.

--Frank

Thanks Frank! I feel like a few others have mentioned this book to me in the past...more incentive to actually read it!

[Noah D Mitchell]

“The Idea Factory, Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation” by Jon Gertner (Penguin  Press, 2012).

I really enjoyed this book. It’s an exciting and exceedingly well-written history of Bell Labs, the industrial laboratory of AT&T, from its inception to its eventual slow, and perhaps tragic, unwinding. It describes the origins of information theory, the transistor, maser/laser, microwave communications, communication satellites, fiber optics and cellular telephony among other foundational technologies of our current world. It tells these stories primarily by following the lives of a handful of the great mathematicians, scientists, engineers and, yes, managers at Bell Labs. It gets deeply into the nature of discovery, invention and the unique organization and societal context that appears to have made this possible. The author is a journalist but nowhere, so far as I’m concerned, does he butcher the science, which is a rare achievement. Many of his observations ring true to my own very modest experiences in industrial research and, I might add, are contrary to some modern conceptions of how innovation should be enabled.

Anyway, I think many of you might find this interesting.

--Frank

Seconded for sure

[John Roberts {JR}]

“The Idea Factory, Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation” by Jon Gertner (Penguin  Press, 2012).

I really enjoyed this book. It’s an exciting and exceedingly well-written history of Bell Labs, the industrial laboratory of AT&T, from its inception to its eventual slow, and perhaps tragic, unwinding. It describes the origins of information theory, the transistor, maser/laser, microwave communications, communication satellites, fiber optics and cellular telephony among other foundational technologies of our current world. It tells these stories primarily by following the lives of a handful of the great mathematicians, scientists, engineers and, yes, managers at Bell Labs. It gets deeply into the nature of discovery, invention and the unique organization and societal context that appears to have made this possible. The author is a journalist but nowhere, so far as I’m concerned, does he butcher the science, which is a rare achievement. Many of his observations ring true to my own very modest experiences in industrial research and, I might add, are contrary to some modern conceptions of how innovation should be enabled.

Anyway, I think many of you might find this interesting.

--Frank

Just think of what other advancements they might have accomplished if the government didn't break up the parent company? 

JR

[Scott Helmke]

Just think of what other advancements they might have accomplished if the government didn't break up the parent company? 

Back in the quaint old days when monopolies were considered bad.

[Mac Kerr]

You can still visit the labs, although when I was there last it was the Nokia Bell Labs. I did a gig in the anechoic chamber and immersive audio room.

Mac

[Chris Hindle]

You can still visit the labs, although when I was there last it was the Nokia Bell Labs. I did a gig in the anechoic chamber and immersive audio room.

Mac

Wow.  That must have thrown your senses for a loop.
I've been in a chamber once, and it was quite an uneasy feeling.
Chris.

[Justice C. Bigler]

Most people don't realize how much of our modern information infrastructure was laid by Bell Labs.

The men that worked there, like Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie invented Unix and the C programming language. Without those Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, BSD, Microsoft, Apple, Sun, SCO, The Internet, and nearly every piece of software that we use today wouldn't have been possible.


We will probably never in our lifetimes ever again see the level of innovation demonstrated during that time period by such a small group of brilliant people. Our children and grand children may never see it.

[Ivan Beaver]

We owe a lot to bell labs and the innovations they came up with.

As JR says, it's a shame that the government broke them up.

A lot of innovations came out of a bunch of guys whos job basically was to think and invent, not necessarily just produce stuff.

Bell labs would not have had those engineering depts without a lot of "extra money" coming in.  And we would be worse off without their inventions, in all aspects of our lives, not just the audio side of things

[John Roberts {JR}]

Wow.  That must have thrown your senses for a loop.
I've been in a chamber once, and it was quite an uneasy feeling.
Chris.

I've been inside two different anechoic chambers. When I was consulting for Bozak (the hifi speaker company) I visited theirs, and of course Peavey had one too.

I didn't spend enough time inside either to get uncomfortable, but it is an interesting quiet. I talked to one of the engineers who actually spent time inside the Peavey chamber and he didn't care for it (IIRC), but they can keep a door open while setting up. 

JR

[Chris Hindle]

I've been inside two different anechoic chambers. When I was consulting for Bozak (the hifi speaker company) I visited theirs, and of course Peavey had one too.

I didn't spend enough time inside either to get uncomfortable, but it is an interesting quiet. I talked to one of the engineers who actually spent time inside the Peavey chamber and he didn't care for it (IIRC), but they can keep a door open while setting up. 

JR

Look at it this way - You get to hear ALL the noises a human body makes.  We are NOT a quiet species. 
Chris.

[Brian Jojade]

We will probably never in our lifetimes ever again see the level of innovation demonstrated during that time period by such a small group of brilliant people. Our children and grand children may never see it.

The amazing thing with technology changes in the last hundred years is how few people actually were the ones that made such large advances.

Granted, today things are advancing at a far more rapid pace because of access to computers and whatnot, but even small advances require the efforts of HUGE teams to make breakthroughs.  Gone are the days when someone working in their garage could come up with something new that could fundamentally change humanity.

[John Roberts {JR}]

The amazing thing with technology changes in the last hundred years is how few people actually were the ones that made such large advances.

Granted, today things are advancing at a far more rapid pace because of access to computers and whatnot, but even small advances require the efforts of HUGE teams to make breakthroughs.  Gone are the days when someone working in their garage could come up with something new that could fundamentally change humanity.

I disagree, individuals have access to pretty powerful design tools for only modest capital outlays. Using computer software decision trees we can incorporate powerful features in product design.  We are in the very early days of AI and I expect it will reveal massive pros and cons, but it should help improve productivity which means more stuff for less cost (if the gubmint ever stops making so much damn inflation). 

JR

[Scott Helmke]

We will probably never in our lifetimes ever again see the level of innovation demonstrated during that time period by such a small group of brilliant people. Our children and grand children may never see it.

It was rare to see such research outside of academia.  As much as some people like to deride higher education, it's given us massive benefits.

[Dave Garoutte]

But, the ideas come from peoples' minds, the tech is just a tool to realize the ideas.  The current power of computing and manufacturing puts staggering capabilities into many hands.  Look at 3D printing for instance.

[ProSoundWeb Community]