Does the first transistor ever built still work?

[illustriouschin]

So does the first transistor still work or was the shtick accurate?

[engineerguyvideo]

@illustriouschin That's a replica, but not a working one ... in fact I am using it in a video that goes out tomorrow that explains in more detail how that transistor worked - without shtick ;-) ... btw Jeri Ellsworth made one see but YouTube won't let me link ... search for jeri ellsworth "Make a point contact transistor at home"

[illustriouschin]

@engineerguyvideo thanks!

[homokladin]

WTF? How did the other glove magically appear on his hand?

[engineerguyvideo]

@homokladin There are several candidates for the source of this magic ... one might be bad editing, although the editor of this piece always did his best with whatever he got. So, its bad work by the continuity person, who is ... me :-) If you want some fun: In one of the videos from the first series the video actually runs backwards at one point ....

[ryanfromnm]

A Walter Mitty Poster?!? WTG! My High School teacher had us read that-had no idea it was made into a movie.

[ryanfromnm]

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty? Really?!? I had no idea they made a movie of that. My High School teacher had us read that...

Great poster, Engineer Guy!

:)

[SpuneTinner]

The first transistor is on display in the lobby of Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Laboratories complex at Murray Hill, New Jersey. It is the centerpiece of an exhibition that includes many other Bell Labs scientific achievements.

[datafreak667]

were looking at the birth of technology and possibly the end of humanity

[Jonhny2]

OMG! You blew a very important piece of electronic history!

[ventHARAS]

SUCH GREAT MANNERS

[kvan001]

does it blend?

just kidding

im sure the transistor still works.

[starslab]

Comedy value aside, you never actually answered your own question. Does the device still function? I'd expect it does, unless it's oxidized somewhere important....

[MajorDisaster4u]

@ZnaxQue Did anyone force you to watch this video? I think not.

[3mustardMoNkEyS]

2:35

That is why electronic datasheets were invented ; )

[JesusMiddleEastGuy]

Funny vid

[chrisgj198]

the schematic is wrong too, so it has no remaining educational value, watching it is 3 minutes wasted

[engineerguyvideo]

@chrisgj198 The schematic comes from a paper by the inventors describing this transistor -J. Bardeen and W.H. Brattain "The Transistor: A semi-conductor triode" Physical Review, vol. 74, Issue 2, pp. 230-231. Remember that the first transistor was a point-contact one and operated slightly differently than today's junction ones ... See also "Genesis of the Transistor" by Walter H. Brattain The Physics Teacher March 1968 p. 109-114. He talks of the point contact & junction devices.

[hoser4]

@engineerguyvideo To give better feedback, the schematic would be correct if you replaced the NPN transistor symbol with a PNP transistor symbol, and swapped the collector and emitter leads.

Note also that, back when the symbology for bipolar transistors first came to be, conventional current still dominated thinking of how things worked (a hold-over from Ben Franklin's work). Hence the arrows that are reversed from what we understand today.

Hope that helps!!

[engineerguyvideo]

@hoser4 Thanks for this excellent feedback. As I review Bardeen & Brattain's paper I see that he just showed "Ge Block" (i.e., the block of Germanium) rather than uses the symbol we use today ... labeling the emitter and collector.

[engineerguyvideo]

@hoser4 Thanks for this excellent feedback. As I review Bardeen & Brattain's paper I see that he just showed "Ge Block" (i.e., the block of Germanium) rather than uses the symbol we use today ... labeling the emitter and collector.

[AmigoNico9]

@chrisgj198 Are you kidding me? These EngineerGuy videos are great fun and very interesting. If you are looking for an instructional video on electronics, go somewhere else -- please! Honestly, it sounds to me more like you and cyborgtroy are trying to impress others with how much you know; it's rude and embarrassing.

Here's hoping that you stop looking for opportunities to criticize and instead create some amazing videos of your own.

EngineerGuy, fantastic work!

[aidoanto221]

Thanks great video guys! Really helps!

[takforalt]

Why take perhaps the most important electronic component invented by man and make a stupid spoof of it? 2 stars.

[cyborgtroy]

@takforalt - And then he even called conductors 'metals' for no clear reason.

:(

[engineerguyvideo]

@cyborgtroy I said the following "It a piece of germanium - it's a semi-conductor. You've likely heard of insulators, which don't conduct electricity, and metals, which do conduct." I gave metals as an example - familiar to most people - of a conductor.