The idea factory is a fascinating look at the lives of some of the key men who shaped bell labs and created its greatest inventions. Bell labs and the great age of american innovation kindle edition by gertner, jon. Part of the essential yeast of bell labs was president mervin kelly s radical insistence on mixing top scientists critical understanding of basic processes with cut and fit experimentation. When the building opened in 1941, its design reflected the ideas of mervin kelly, bell labs director of research. Kelly, fisk, and baker were presidents of the labs, and served as stewards during the institutions golden age. Pick up the key ideas in the book with this quick summary. In 1950, he traveled around europe, delivering a presentation that explained to. From transistors to telstar, idea factory traces bell labs.
In jon gertners deep dive into bell labs history, the idea factory, a lot of time is spent detailing the nearprescient pairings of experts made by research director mervin kelly and other influential managers. In the years that followed, perhaps more than anyone else, he crafted and refined the research model that would define bell labs. Jon gertners new york times oped provides more details from his book. And at its heart this is a story about a small group of brilliant and eccentric men including mervin kelly, bill shockley, claude shannon, john pierce, and bill baker who spent their careers at bell labs. Mervin joe kelly february 14, 1895 princeton, missouri march 18, 1971 was an american physicist and engineer, and president of bell labs from 1951 to. All these men knew one another, and some were extremely close. The central figure in that tale is mervin kelly, who envisioned an. From the transistor to the laser, from digital communications to cellular telephony, its hard to find an aspect of modern life that hasnt been touched by bell labs. Mervin kelly, for example, was one of the most gifted physics students at the university of. In the idea factory, jon gertner traces the origins of some of the twentieth centurys most important inventions and delivers a riveting and heretofore untold chapter of american history. The program was informally knownmuch to mervin kelly s discomfortas kelly college, because thats what it was. He was avidly pursuing graduate work in the discipline at the university of michigan, intent on an academic career, when bell labs research director mervin kelly happened to visit in 1936. In its heyday, bell labs boasted nearly 15,000 employees, 1,200 of whom held phds and of whom won nobel prizes.
Bell labs and the great age of american innovation jon. By tracing the history of bell labs through the biographies of several of its founding thinkers, including mervin kelly, bill shockley and claude shannon, gertner reveals the complicated humanity at work behind the scenes and provides unprecedented insight on some of historys most important scientific and technological advances. Weaving together the scientific research, product development and marketing along with the intriguing and gifted personalities who were involved over the decades, the author has done an excellent job of bringing the highlights, the excitement, the breakthroughs and. Bell labs and the great age of american innovation paperback february 26, 20. Why bell labs was a hotbed of innovation that led to many. Whether the 21st century will produce another bell labs remains to be seen. A study of bell labs offers a number of lessons about how our. He was responsible for research and development across all of lucent. Upon receiving the idea factory, i raided the index for. Labs a number of scientific exemplars the guy who wrote the book, as. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Upon earning his phd in physics at the university of chicago, mervin kelly began his bell system career in 1917 working with vacuum tube technology. Part of the essential yeast of bell labs was president mervin kellys radical insistence on mixing top scientists critical.
Shockley was inspired by a talk given by the bell labs research director, mervin kelly, who wanted to find a way to invent electronic switches and amplifiers that could replace the relay switches. Phd physical chemistry degree from harvard university in cambridge, massachusetts, usa, and a bachelor of science computer science and chemistry joint degree from kings college in london, uk. Mervin kelly as bell s research director, and later its president, mervin kelly was the driving force that steered bell labs into solid state physics. From its beginnings in the 1920s until its demise in the 1980s, bell labsofficially, the research. But the real stroke of genius was to realize the value that basic scientists mainly physicists and chemists could bring to this endeavor along with engineers. At bell labs, the man most responsible for the culture of creativity was mervin kelly. The book could equally well be subtitled the invention of the modern world. He kept the store books for his father and had a newspaper. How bell labs created the future in the idea factory. The idea factory navy general library program downloadable.
This was largely the vision of two men frank jewett and mervin kelly. With the exception of mervin kelly, the eldest of the group, they were sometimes considered members of a band of bell labs revolutionaries known as the young turks. In the idea factory, jon gertner paints bell labs astutely. Mar 23, 2012 in fact, the bell lab facilities in murray hill, n. The idea factory bell labs and the great age of american innovation. May 29, 2012 key bell labs managers mervin kelly, john baker, and john pierce may not be well remembered now, but they were regarded as towering presences in their time, just as compelling if not nearly as well compensated as our current internet heroes. In 1948, bell labs began offering a series of unaccredited but highly challenging courses for employees known as the communications development training program, or cdt. Kelly and his colleagues at bell labs repeatedly sought, creates millions of jobs and a. How an idea from bell labs is improving office design today.
Nov 30, 2019 that the story is about bell labs, and even more specifically about life at the labs between the late 1930s and the mid1970s, isnt a coincidence. At its heart this is a story about the life and work of a small group of brilliant and eccentric menmervin kelly, bill shockley, claude shannon, john pierce, and bill bakerwho spent their careers at bell labs. Probably the best example of that in history is the bell labs research center in murray hill, new jersey. The book covers bell labs seminal work on multiplexing, information theory, transistors, lasers, fiber optics, communications satellites, the cosmic microwave background, and mobile phone networks, among other things. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read the idea factory. The people helping to make it happen including mervin kelly, jim fisk, william shockley, claude shannon, john pierce, and william baker.
Twas the biggest, and arguably the best, laboratory for new ideas in the world. However, almost as many fruitful interactions described in the book can be traced to architectural features. Bell labs project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks read. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Dave tompkins, who explored bell labs via the history of the vocoder in the fascinating book how to wreck a nice beach, writes in slate. Today, when the drive to invent has become a mantra, bell labs offers us a. Opinion innovation and the bell labs miracle the new. Kelly was employed at bell labs, rising from researcher to chairman of the board. He is the editor and lead author of the book the future x network. With headquarters located in murray hill, new jersey, the company operates several laboratories in the united states and. Bill oshea was the tenth president of bell labs, and lucent technologies chief technology officer. World heritage encyclopedia, the aggregation of the largest online encyclopedias available, and the. Bell labs functioned in a world not ours, he quotes john pierce as saying near the end of the book.
Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the idea factory. Opinion innovation and the bell labs miracle the new york times. Kelly thought the purpose of bell labs was to turn new science into new things that made a difference. The idea factory, by jon gertner the new york times. That the story is about bell labs, and even more specifically about life at the labs between the late 1930s and the mid1970s, isnt a coincidence. Mervin kelly even created branches of bell labs at the phone companys factories so that the theoreticians and scientists could be closely involved with the manufacturing workers. I learned this from jon gertners the idea factory, a fascinating account of bell labs age of innovation. Bell labs and the great age of american innovation by jon gertner 2012, hardcover at the best online prices at ebay. Unfortunately, this book cant be printed from the openbook. At its heart this is a story about the life and work of a small group of brilliant and eccentric men mervin kelly, bill shockley, claude shannon, john pierce. The scale of bell labs impact is truly incredible and this book does a good job of explaining the history of the institution and what factors contributed to its remarkable output. At its heart this is a story about the life and work of a small group of brilliant and eccentric men mervin kelly, bill shockley, claude shannon, john pierce, and bill bakerwho spent their careers at bell labs.
The idea factory bell labs and the great age of american innovation by jon gertner. Opinion innovation and the bell labs miracle the new york. Today, when the drive to invent has become a mantra, bell labs offers us a way to enrich our understanding of the challenges and. If you need to print pages from this book, we recommend downloading it as a pdf. Jon gertner this work highlights achievements of bell labs as a leading innovator, exploring the role of its highly educated employees in developing new technologies while considering the qualities of companies.
One type of innovation creates a handful of jobs and modest revenues. Bell labs and the great age of american innovation. Apr 08, 2012 mervin kelly even created branches of bell labs at the phone companys factories so that the theoreticians and scientists could be closely involved with the manufacturing workers. At its heart this is a story about the life and work of a small group of brilliant and eccentric menmervin kelly, bill shockley, claude shannon, john pierce. In 1951 he was named director of the labs, and his work was pivotal in changing the communications industry. Not everything bell labs did was a resounding success, though. Beginning his career with bell labs in 1972, oshea spent almost 30 years in the development, manufacturing, marketing and sales of information systems. Mervin kelly, for example, was one of the most gifted physics students at the university of chicago before coming to bell labs.
Arthur ashkin invented optical tweezers that grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells with their laser beam fingers. As bells research director, and later its president, mervin kelly was the driving force that steered bell labs into solid state physics. I hopped onto more than half a dozen planes to actually pay a visit to potential employers all over the country during th. Long before jack dorsey and steve jobs reflected on the keys to innovation, mervin kelly, one of the early architects of bell labs, weighed in on the subject. How bell labs missed the microchip full page reload. This innovative laboratory, established in the 1920s, was the source of dozens, if not hundreds, of technological innovations, effectively ushering in our modern digital age. Mervin joe kelly february 14, 1895 princeton, missouri march 18, 1971 was an american physicist and engineer, and president of bell labs from 1951 to 1959.