I’ve been a ham radio operator a long time, and I even have an electrical engineering degree, but I never really knew how the transistor got its name. Well, according to this post on the Adafruit blog, they actually took a vote. The entire memo has been posted to flickr.
While searching around for a picture of the first transistor, I found the video, “Does the first transistor ever built still work?” It explains how it works, and you can actually see the transistor, which is now part of the collection at the University of Illinois Spurlock Museum.
Bas PE4BAS says
Interesting Dan, the video if fun as well. 73, Bas
Eldon Brown says
So, that is how Light Emitting
TransistorsDiodes were invented? :-)73 Eldon – WA0UWH
Bill K says
The name transister, as I was
instructed came from the function:
Transfer resister