Word: transistors
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...country came up with the safety pin or the Ford. But reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated. While West Germany and Japan have sent a competitive shiver into American industries in recent years, the U.S. has still managed to produce such things as the Xerox, the transistor, the laser and the microchip. A lot of Yankeeingenuity is spent, to be sure, on diverting gadgetry, such as a projected palm-size phone and a vacuum cleaner with a memory (a seemingly gratuitous burden). But recent developments in medicine, such as the hybridoma cells for cancer treatment and the creation...
Though they seldom command the daily headlines, scientists by their deeds sometimes possess the potential for the greatest impact upon the world's future. Consider such works as the green revolution, the transistor, antibiotics, computers: in the past few decades, all emerged rapidly and unexpectedly to alter the course of civilization. Last year a new technology, perhaps the most startling yet created by science, came of age: genetic engineering, the ability to alter the basic stuff of life...
...unassailable truth: whether it overheats the blood or soothes the savage breast, music is one of history's great growth industries. Technology has electrified the ether: since Edison and Marconi, listeners have increased a billionfold. There is scarcely an Aleut or Patagonian today who cannot flick on a transistor against the shriek of icy winds...
...solid state semiconductor transistor changed all that. Capable of being powered by tiny batteries and of delivering loudspeaker volume, transistors revolutionized the portable receiver. They were made so small they fit easily into shirt pockets or dangled by a chain from the wrist. Some could be worn like wrist watches...
...under portable sounds too cheap to be any good, but at one time the cost of a single transistor in these radios sold for much more. Mass production and low labor cost in Hong Kong and Taiwan has brought these down to where they are highly affordable. They cover only the AM band but they have a tuning control, combined on-off switch volume control, and a lightweight "in your ear" headphone is supplied. The battery is a single 9-volt type and the overall weight, with battery, is 10 ounces or less. Many portables, including the least expensive...