Jon Gertner: "The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-03-19/jon-gertner-idea-factory-bell-labs-and-great-age-american-innovation
Long before Silicon Valley, some of the twentieth century’s most influential technologies originated in New Jersey. Transistors, radars, lasers and solar cells are among the innovations to come out of Bell Telephone Laboratories during the decades between 1925 and 1984. Bell Labs also produced 13 Nobel Prize winners, including Energy Secretary Steven Chu. A new book titled “The Idea Factory,” examines the people and conditions that made Bell Labs a hotbed of innovation. Author Jon Gertner of the New York Times and Fast Company Magazines joins Diane to discuss whether a similar factory of innovation is possible today.
Guests
John Gertner
writer, New York Times magazine, editor, Fast Company magazine.
Program Highlights
Long before Silicon Valley, Bell Labs in New Jersey attracted the best and brightest thinkers. Some of the 20th century's most influential technologies, including transistors, radar, lasers and solar cells started there. A new book examines the people and conditions that made Bell Labs a hot bed of innovation in the 20th century. The title of the book is, "The Idea Factory."
The Beginning of Bell Labs
Bell Labs opened in 1925, set up as the research and development laboratory of the phone company. At the time, AT&T was a monopoly. Fostering creativity, according to Gertner, was something management was very good at. Interestingly, at the time, Bell didn't have any competition, but Gertner believes it was "this sort of unbelievable place that just had this string of innovations that really changed the world."
The Transistor: One Of The Big Inventions
One big invention that came out of Bell's golden age was the transistor, which replaced the vacuum tube. The transistor really paved the way for the miniaturization of electronics, Gertner said. "They used such little amounts of power that it kind of changes the whole configuration of what electronic devices could be," he said.
The Effects Of The Depression
The Depression ended up helping Bell Labs, Gertner said. At first, phone subscription dropped dramatically, but then they started to pick up in the mid-1930s. This allowed the lab's director, Mervin Kelly, to hire people, and to pay well. He was able to hire some of the best and brightest people available, which led to some of the great work and innovations that came out of the lab.
You can read the full transcript here.
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My Dad worked at BTL for 48 1/2 years. He started as a high school graduate - at Western Electric (1917 or 1918). After a bit classes were started ('Kelly's College' it was called -- MJ Kelly believed these boys could be engineers!). Dad was encouraged to get a degree at UN Illinois or Purdue (all the engineers came from there in those days!) but his family situation did not make that possible. BUT.....he became a Member of Technical Staff - full engineer - and worked on many interesting projects: putting the sound on the film so we would have 'talkies' at the movies; a thing they called an 'answering machine', and all that secret stuff at Whippany during WWII. He even had a trip to England with his boss (on an Holland American ship) -- they had tea with a Dean at Oxford! He took a picture of the door he walked through in 1927 when he returned with my Mom in 1959! I met my husband at BTL (he was a design mechanical engineer (OSU) and I in Personnel Dept. We left after he had 9+ years--- ME's were becoming less valuable. Dad did work for a few years at Holmdel. He grew up in Chatham; I, in East Orange. Ah....such a story: thank you, Jon!!!
I worked in an advertising agency as a creative working on the ATT account and had the honor of visiting Bell Labs to photograph some of the scientists based there.
I will always remember the 'down to earth' personalities of these amazing people.
With so much talent and intelligence, what a wonderful atmosphere it must have been to work in.
Some of the best technical learning I ever had came from my time working in the Bell System, having the opportunity to take classes from Bell technical training centers and benefiting from research associated with Bell Labs. Thanks for this show today!
I started my career at Western Electric at the Merrimack Valley works where the factory had a Bell Labs facility attched, this was one of the experiements that tried to get the brain power of the Labs closer to new product development and manufcturing. I moved from manufacturing to Product Management and spent a lot of time with the Whippany Labs in the delivery of digital signals close to the home including fiber to the home.
The "Bell System" was a challenge to parts of the Government and when I was there it wa sknown as the "Biggest Company on Earth" and Sonny Klienfield wrote a great book with that title. The break-up of the Bell System helped some elements of the industry but in some cases I think a regulated monopoly was not a bad situation for captial intensive infrastructured industries. The Labs provided a lot of innovation to the public tha was not tiued to telecom.
Mr. Gertner
Does your book mention the relay computers invented by George Stibitz at the labs in NYC from 1937 through WW-II.
It was one of the first computers and he first to run a computer remotely in a demonstration at Dartmouth in 1940.
Dick Lord
I worked for Bell Labs for several years, and knew Shockley's family personally and the technician that created the first transistor radio, and many other relevant people. A lot of the information in this show is slightly misleading.
Here are two important points to know:
(1) AT&T was required by US law to spend a certain fraction of its profits on R&D, and devote a certain fraction of its R&D to pure research. When this requirement was removed after the breakup of AT&T, the R&D and pure research went away (gradually, but it all disappeared eventually).
(2) AT&T was required by law to give all its intellectual property away to everyone for free during most of its existence (up to the breakup of AT&T). For example, Akio Morita, the founder of SONY was at the press conference in Murray Hill announcing the creation of the transistor, and this technology was incredibly valuable for Morita and cost them nothing.
As a scientist myself, a lot of the other comments are just silly or are distorted.
There is also no discussion of Northern Electric or Nippon Electric, or Bell Northern Research, or other related organizations. Perhaps a comprehensive account would be too long for a single show or even a single book, but lack of knowledge of all these aspects can lead to confusion.
I grew up in Whippany NJ in the 1950s and Bell Labs was the "star" home-town corporate citizen. The Labs facility looked like a golf course from the main road, it was secure, but they also held regular "Family Days" and "Open Houses," as did the facility in Murray Hill.
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Can the author discuss the anechoic lab at Murray Hill? I visited it once and will never forget it.
Hi,
I hope your guest will mention that many of AT&T's "inventions" were driven by the US Government. Particularly the transistor. The US Government went to Bell Labs and asked and paid for them to work on this to completion. There are other examples. And there are examples of technology that the US Government tried to get AT&T to take over and AT&T refused. The Internet of the most noteworthy example. My father worked there and told me of these stories.
My late husband was employed by Western Electric in Montgomery, IL before the divestiture in the 1980's when he was laid off. He worked as an electronics tester and was furthering his education through the benefits provided by the company. I do not think the break up the Bell Companies improved the phone systems nor do I think it helped with innovation. Too bad that this type of thing was not taken into consideration when break up was forced.
Kerrie
The history of Bell labs unfolded as I grew up and seemed to be an organic part of my life. There was a kind of security and warmth from what was familiar due to the many public aspects of the company. Now, however, I have another perspective that Jon Gertner spoke to with clarity: The fact that the work was "basic" to whole systems of inventions and electrical/electronics beyond not just the production of items and individualized, money-making products. Within this basic system of "wholeness", I instantly understood the style of success created as well as the profound breadth of vision of production. As Gertner said, (I'm paraphrasing) Bell Labs hired a lot of kids (teens) who just dove in and created new things ane were mentored without benefit of extended college educations. Ah! Bell Labs utilized the skills and ingenuity of what is now called kinesthenic learners--a breed that has little opportunity in today's world. The demise of the Apprenticeship system of the past. It's that balance piece that now days is too often considered "handicapped" (A.D.D./A.D.H.D) and other learning differences. We need what Bell Labs had, a balance of learning styles ande expressions.
Wish I could have called in yesterday, when the guest was Jon Gertner. My father was Oliver E. Buckley, president of Bell Labs from 1940 to 1951. I remember some of the people closely connected with the laboratories (Mervin Kelly and others). Dad oversaw the work of the company and was president when the facility at Cherry Hill was being developed. Dad was a humble, gracious, wise, and principled man. President Truman called on him to assist with the Science Advisory Committee just after WWII. Tucked away in a drawer I have one of the very first transistors that were made at the Lab.
I miss my father and I miss the vision and style of Bell Laboratories. They served the country well. Thank you for this program.
Juliet Korst