Conquering the Electron: The Geniuses, Visionaries, Egomaniacs, and Scoundrels Who Built Our Electronic Age

by Derek Cheung, Eric Brach BleacherReport.com writer and author of Billy "the Hill" and the Jump Hook

Overview

Conquering the Electron offers readers a true and engaging history of the world of electronics, beginning with the discoveries of friction and magnetism and ending with the creation of the smartphone and the iPad. This book shows the interconnection of each advance to the next on the long journey to our modern day technologies. Want to understand how radio and television work—and why RCA drove their inventors to financial ruin and early graves? Conquering the Electron offers this story and more, presenting each revolutionary technological advance right alongside blow-by-blow personal battles that all too often took place.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493049936
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	02/24/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	360
File size:	16 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Dr. Derek Cheung is a scientist turned businessman with a lifetime of experience in the fields of science and technology. He received his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in the same field from Stanford. Derek spent four years working as a research engineer at Fairchild Semiconductor, the company that gave birth to Silicon Valley, before making a career as president and CEO of Rockwell Scientific, a successful high-tech company transformed from a major corporate R&D lab. He lives in Thousand Oaks, California.

Eric Brach is a lecturer in English at West Los Angeles College in Culver City, California. He is the author of Billy “the Hill” and the Jump Hook and has been a contributor to national magazines, newspapers, and academic journals, including Bleacher Report, Box Office, and The Onion. He lives in Culver City, California.

Table of Contents

Part I: Age of Electromagnetism1 The Knowledge Foundation
The Beginning
Scientific Method
The Magic of Static Electricity
The Battery
Linking Electricity and Magnetism
Faraday, the Grand Master
Maxwell, the Peerless Genius
2 The Telegraph
Messages Sent by Electric Current
Annihilating the Time-Space Barrier
Wire Across the Atlantic
Intellectual Property Disputes
Morse Code
Impact
3 The Telephone
Voices Carried Over Wire
Building the Telephone Business
Patent Battle of the Century
Sound of Music
4 Wireless Telegraphy
Hertz and the Electromagnetic WavesMarconi and the WirelessCrossing the Ocean Blue5 Lighting and ElectrificationElectrical Lighting SystemsGenerators and MotorsThe AC-DC War Impact of ElectrificationEdison, Tesla, and SiemensOne Hundred Years of ElectromagnetismPart II: Age of Vacuum Electronics6 Current Flow in a VacuumCathode RaysThe Electron ExposedThe Puzzle of Penetrative LightThe Legacy of Vacuum Electronics7 Controlling the Flow of ElectronsThe Edison EffectThe Vacuum DiodeThe Magical Third ElectrodeVoices Across the Continent8 RadioChristmas Eve, 1904Core Radio TechnologyRCA and SarnoffArmstrong’s Tragedy9 TelevisionTransmitting Video through the AirA Farm Boy from Utah and a Russian ÉmigréThe Intellectual Property Battle10 RadarClairvoyanceHunting the SubmarineThe Most Valuable LuggageRadio NavigationThe Microwave World11 ComputerThe Calculating MachineENIACFoundation of Computer ArchitectureFramework for the FuturePart III: Age of Solid-State Electronics
12 The SemiconductorBell LabsKelly’s ForesightThe Unpredictable Semiconductor13 The Birth of the TransistorThe Flamboyant GeniusConceptualizing a Solid-State TriodeForging a Better SemiconductorDiscovery of the p-n JunctionRoadblocksThe Great BreakthroughThe Roll-Out . . . . . . And the FightShockley’s Last LaughThe Zeal of Teal and the Élan of PfannResolution14 Launching the Electronics Industry Sharing TechnologyNew PlayersThe Debut of SiliconThe Transistor RadioJapanese PioneersThe Transistor Era Begins15 The Dawn of Silicon ValleyWall Street Journal or Physical Review?Shockley and the Traitorous EightThe Birth of Venture CapitalThe Changing of the Guard16 The Integrated Circuit and the ChipKilby and the First Integrated CircuitHoerni and the Planar Process Noyce and the ChipFairchild and the Silicon Valley Phenomenon17 Chip Technology BlossomsThe Early Market for ChipsMoore’s LawMemory ChipsMicroprocessor—ENIAC on a chipThe Personal Computer UnleashedUbiquitous Silicon18 Evolution of the Electronics IndustryCompetitors from AsiaComputer-Aided DesignThe Foundries of TaiwanNoyce, Moore, and GroveTurning Silicon Into Gold19 LEDs, Fiber Optics, and Liquid Crystal DisplaysLuminescent SemiconductorsSemiconductor LasersFiber Optic CommunicationsLiquid Crystal Displays20 The Information Age and BeyondPutting It All Together The Information RevolutionGlobalizationLooking AheadAppendix I: Further Reading
Appendix II: Summary of Key “Conquerors of the Electron”

Editorial Reviews

Best history of electronics ever. Derek Cheung is an outstanding technologist and businessperson, and he gets the technical and business details right. This is a great story of a mighty industry.

David Rutledge

This is not an ordinary history book. Conquering the Electron brings deeper insight to the lives and work of those giants who made quantum progress in escalating humans’ understanding and use of electricity. It also reveals the critical meaning of some of the most important (but frequently forgotten or ignored) discoveries and inventions. I firmly believe that my peers and students would benefit equally from reading this well-investigated and composed book in pursuit of their own careers to further advance state-of-the-art electronics.

Prof. M. C. Frank Chang

Conquering the Electron contains an amazing number of little-known facts about the giants who shaped technology and still have an impact today. This book is an interesting read and an inspiration to engineers, entrepreneurs, and young people who aspire to make a difference. It will also provide ample conversation material for any social encounter.

Dr. Milton Chang

Conquering the Electron is a unique collection of insights into the “visionaries, egomaniacs, and scoundrels,” as well as their related electronic technologies that changed the world in the past two centuries. This is a must-read for technologists, entrepreneurs, tech investors, and business strategists!

James C. Stoffel

While I was aware of bits and pieces of the history of the electron, I have never before seen them connected in such a clear and comprehensive manner as in this book. Whether you are just starting to learn about the electron or are a veteran of the electronics industry, you will be enlightened by Conquering the Electron.

Robert Steenberge