Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. List of Significant Innovations & Discoveries (1925-1983)

The first iteration of this list was compiled by Bell Labs alumnus A. Michael Noll in May 2012. 

(original list)

Original Notes:

• Compiled by A. Michael Noll (with personal knowledge and an admitted bias toward speech research and computer graphics) and with sagacious comments from several Bell Telephone Laboratories colleagues.
• Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. (BTL) was formed in 1925 and existed until the breakup of the Bell System on January 1, 1984. Only this period of nearly six decades is included here.
• Innovations and discoveries were chosen to be significant new directions and not just incremental advances. However, a few “fascinating” ones, such as the “dunking bird,” have been included.
• Tens of thousands of engineers, scientists, technicians, and others worked at Bell Telephone Laboratories, and all contributed in their own way to the overall accomplishments of the organization. Only a small few are listed here though.
• On many of the larger development projects and systems, large engineering teams were involved, and accordingly individuals are not named.

Year	Innovation or Discovery	Innovators
1925	Electrical Sound Recording	Joseph Maxfield & Harry Harrison
1925	Quality Control Theory	W. A. Shewhart
1926	Thermal Noise	John B. Johnson
1926	Antenna Arrays	R. M. Foster
1926	Permendur Magnetic Alloy	G. W. Elmen
1927	Negative Feedback Amplification	Harold Black
1927	Television Transmission	Herbert E. Ives
1927	Quartz Electronic Clock	Warren Marrison
1927	Transatlantic Telephone Service	Many contributors
1927	Wave Nature of the Electron	Clinton J. Davisson & Lester. H. Germer
1927	Wearable Electronic Hearing Aid	Harvey Fletcher
1927	Telephone Trunking Traffic Analysis	Edward C. Molina
1928	Sampling Theorem	Harry Nyquist
1929	Artificial Larynx	Robert R. Riesz
1929	Broadband Coaxial Cable	Lloyd Espenschied & Herbert A. Apfel
1929	Ship-to-Shore Radio System	Many contributors
1929	Frequency Interleaving of TV Signal	Frank Gray & John R. Hefele
1930	Moving-Coil Microphone	E. C. Wente & A. L. Thuras
1930	Negative Impedance Repeater	George Crisson
1931	Radio Astronomy	Karl Jansky
1931	Rhombic Antenna	Harald T. Friis & E. Bruce
1931	TWX Exchange Teletypewriter Svc	Many contributors
1931	Stereophonic Recording on Film	Harvey Fletcher
1931-32	Stereophonic Sound Rec. (45°)	Harvey Fletcher, Arthur C. Keller
1932	Stability Criteria Diagrams	Harry Nyquist
1932	Waveguide Experiments &Theory	G. Southworth, A. King, A. E. Bowen
1933	Equal-Loudness Contours	Harvey Fletcher & Wilden A. Munson
1933	Vitamin B1 Isolation Process	Robert R. Williams
1933	Stereophonic Sound Transmission	Harvey Fletcher
1934	Raster Scan TV System	Pierre Mertz & Frank Gray
1936	Stereophonc Phonograph Record	Arthur C. Keller & Irad S. Rafuse
1936	Vocoder Speech Synthesis	Homer Dudley
1936	Reed Switch	Walter B. Elwood
1936	High-Efficiency AM-Transmit. Amp.	William H. Doherty
1937	Boolean Logic Relay Computer	George Robert Stibitz & S. B. Williams
1937	Velocity Modulation Diode	Frederick B. Llewellyn
1937	Isograph Analog Comp.for Poly. 0s	R. L. Dietzold
1937-38	Voder Speech Synthesizer	Homer Dudley
1938	Crossbar Switching System	Many contributors
1938	Insertion Parameter Filter Design	Sidney Darlington
1938	Phase-Gain Stability Criteria	Hendrik W. Bode
1939	Complex Number Calculator	George Robert Stibitz & S. B. Williams
1939	P-N Junction	Russell Shoemaker Ohl
1939	Smith Chart for Transmission Lines	Phillip H. Smith
1940	Pierce Electron Gun	John R. Pierce
1940s	Thermistor Materials	G. L. Pearson, J. A. Becker & C. B. Green
1940	Reflex Klystron	John R. Pierce & W. G. Shepherd
1940	Photovoltaic P-N Junction	Russell Shoemaker Ohl
1941	Sound Spectrograph	W. Koenig, H. K. Dunn & L. Y. Lacy
1941	Vocoder Speech Secrecy System	R. K. Potter & R. C. Mathes
1942	Acoustic Homing Torpedo	Many contributors
1942	Horn-Reflector Antenna	Harald T. Friis amp; Alfred C. Beck
1943	Echo-Ranging Sonar	Many contributors
1943	Microgel Synthetic Rubber	William O. Baker & C. S. Fuller
1943	Computer-Contr. M5 Gun Director	Many contributors
1944	Close-Spaced Triode (Model 416)	Jack A. Morton
1944	Math.Treatment of Noise Theory	Stephen O. Rice
1940s	Microwave Radio Prop. Studies	A. B. Crawford & collaborators
1945	Pulse Code Modulation Paper	J. Pierce, C. Shannon & B. Oliver
1945	Nike Anti-Aircraft Missile Project	Many contributors
1945	“Dunking Brid” Amusement Dev.	Miles V. Sullivan
1945	Travelling-Wave-Tube Analysis	John R. Pierce
1946	L1 Coaxial Cable System	Many contributors
1946	Junction Solar Cell Patent	Russell Shoemaker Ohl
1947	The Bit	John W. Tukey
1947	Point-Contact Transistor	John Bardeen & Walter H. Brattain
1947	Cellular Wireless Concept	Donald H. Ring & W. Rae Young
1947	Helix Travelling Wave Tube	John R. Pierce & L. M. Field
1947	Chirp Radar	Sidney Darlington
1947	TDX Microwave Radio System	Harald T. Friis & G. N. Thayer
1948	Information Theory	Claude Shannon
1948	Error Correcting Codes	Richard W. Hamming
1948	Bipolar Junction Transistor	William Shockley
1949	Time Assignment Speech Interp.	Carl B. H. Feldman
1949	Semicond.Particle Detectors	Kenneth G. Mckay
1949	Gas Discharge Noise Tube	W. W. Mumford
1950	TD Transcon. M-wave Rad. Sys.	Many contributors
1950	Spat. Harm. Trav. Wv. Tube Amp.	Sidney Millman
1950	Differential PCM of TV Signals	C. C. Cutler, C. W. Harrison & B. M. Oliver
1950	Model of Basilar Membrane	L. C. Peterson & Bruce P. Bogert
1950	High-Quality Synth,Qtz Growth	A. Walker, G. Kohman, E. Buehler & R. Laudise
1950	Trans. Line Model of Vocal Tract	H. K. Dunn
1951	Zone Refining	William G. Pfann
1951	Direct Distance Dialing	Many contributors
1951	Polymer Carbon	W. O. Baker & F. H. Winslow
1951	Epitaxial Deposition	Gordon Teal & Howard Christensen
1951	Stochastic Service Arrival Traffic	J. Riordan
1952	Ion Implantation	R. S. Ohl & William S. Shockley
1953	Photo-Transistor	J. N. Shive
1953	Reflected Binary Code	Frank Gray
1953	Avalanche Photodiode Physics	Kenneth G. McKay & K. B. McAfee
1954	Photovoltaic Solar Cell	D. Chapin, C. Souther Fuller & G. Pearson
1954	Formant Vocoder	Eric S. Weibel
1954	Coaxial Magnetron	Joseph Feinstein
1955	Lin.Floating-Dec. Prog.Langs.	V. M. Wolontis & Richard W. Hamming
1955	Directive Antenna Arrays	E. N. Gilbert & S. P. Morgan
1955	Diffused Emit. & Base Si Trans	Morris Tanenbaum and D. E. Thomas
1955	Oxide Masking of Silicon Wafers	Carl J. Frosh & Lincoln Derrick
1955	Pyrolytic C (Ablative HeatShield)	F. H. Winslow & William O. Baker
1956	Polyethelene Cable Sheathing	W. Lincoln Hawkins
1956	P-I-N Photodiode Theory	W. T. Read, Jr.
1956	TAT-1	Many contributors
1957	Supermendur Magnetic Alloy	H. L. B. Bould & D. H. Wenny
1957	Rare Earth Permanent Magnets	J. H. Wernick & E. A. Nesbitt
1957	Minimal Tree Algorithm	Robert C. Prim
1957	Computer Music	Max V. Mathews
1957	Info. Rate of Human Channel	John R. Pierce & John E. Karlin
1958	Bell 101 Dataset Modem	Many contributors
1958	Laser	Arthur L. Schawlow & Charles W. Townes
1958	Voice Excited Vocoder	Manfred R. Schroeder
1958	Theory of Random Systems	Philip Warren Anderson
1958	KNa Niobate Ceramic Del. Ln.	L. Egerton & S. S. Flaschen
1958	Synthtic Quartz Crystal Growth	Robert A. Laudise & Albert Ballman
1958	A/D Conversion Syst. for Audio	E. David, Jr., M. Mathews & H. McDonald
1959	Macro-Instruction Programming	M. Douglas McIlroy & Douglas E. Eastwood
1959	Nike Zeus Anti-Ballistic Missile	Many contributors
1960	BLODI Block Diagr. Compiler	John Kelly, Vic Vyssotsky & Carol Lochbaum
1960	Echo Communications Satellite	John R. Pierce & team
1960	Order-of-Arrival Service Model	Vaclav E. Benes
1960	MOS Transistor	John Atalla & Dawon Kahng
1960	High Mag. Field Superconduc.	J. Kunzler, F. Hsu, E. Buehler & J. Wernick
1960	Silicon Epitaxy	Henry C. Theuerer
1960	Helium-Neon Gas Laser	A. Javan, W. R. Bennet & D. R. Herriott
1960	Space Saver Rotary Dial	Charles F. Matke
1960	Superconduc. Nb-Sn Magnet	John Eugene Kunzler
1961	T1 Digital Carrier Introduced	Many contributors
1961	Theory of Optical Resonators	A. G. Fox & T. Li
1962	Cepstrum Pitch Detection	Manfred R. Schroeder & A. Michael Noll
1962	Telstar Active Satellite Launch	John R. Pierce & Eugene O’Neil’s team
1962	Electret Microphone	Gerhard Sessler & James E. West
1962	Adaptive Echo Canceller	J. Kelly, B. Logan, M. Sondhi & A. Presti
1962	Electronic Artificial Larynx	H. L. Barney, F. E. Haworth & H. K. Dunn
1962	Basilar-Membrane Displace.	James L. Flanagan
1962	Vocal-Tract Speech Synthesis	John L. Kelly, Jr. & Carol Lochbaum
1962	Digital Computer Art	A. Michael Noll
1962	Grating-Type Delay Line	R. S. Duncan & Marsena R. Parker
1962	Red Helium-Neon Laser	Alan White & J. Dane Rigden
1962-68	Nonmetric Mutltid.Scaling	R. Shepard, J. Kruskal & Newman Guttman
1963	Digital Filter Design	James F. Kaiser & Roger M. Golden
1963	Touchtone Dialing	Leo Schenker
1963	Chemiluminescence	Edwin A. Chandross
1963	BEFLIX	Kenneth C. Knowlton
1963	Thin-Film Delay Line	Norman F. Foster
1963	ALPAK	W. Stanley, B. A. Tague & J. P. Hyde
1960s	Comp. Animation apps.	Many contributors
1964	Detect “Big-Bang” Radiation	Arno A. Penzias & Robert W. Wilson
1964	Adaptive Equalizer Modem	Robert W. Lucky
1964	CO2 High-Power Laser	C. Kumar N. Patel
1964	YAG Laser	J. E. Geusic, H. M. Marcos & L. G. Van Uitert
1964	Argon Laser Retina Repair	Eugene I. Gordon & Edward F. Labuda
1964	Van Allen belt detection	W. Brown, L. Lanzerotti & L. Medford
1964	MULTICS Time-Share Comp.	Many contributors
1960s	Random-Dot & Self Stereo.	Bela Julesz
1965	Stereoscopic Comp. Anim.	A. Michael Noll
1965	#1 Electronic Switching Sys.	Many contributors
1965	FFT	John Tukey & J. W. Cooley (IBM)
1965	Ded. Lab. Interactive Comp.	Peter B. Denes
1965	Remote GDT	William H. Ninke
1966	List-Processing Comp. Lang.	Kenneth C. Knowlton
1966	Comp.-Aided Lib. Distribution	W. Stanley Brown & Joseph F. Traub
1966	Silicon Gate	R. E. Kerwin, D. L. Klein & J. C. Sarace
1967	Linear Predictive Coding	Bishnu S. Atal & Manfred R. Schroeder
1967	Magn.Bubble Memory Devs	A. H. Bobeck, H. E. D. Scovil & P. Michaelis
1967	Ion Implantation Implem.	Alfred U. Mac Rae & Walter L. Brown
1968	Interactive 3D Input & Displ.	A. Michael Noll
1968	Speech Synthesis by Rule	Cecil H. Coker
1968	Heterostructure Semic.Laser	I. Hayashi & M. Panish
1968	Molecular Beam Epitaxy	John R. Arthur & A. Y. Cho
1968	LED for Optical Fibers	C. A. Burrus
1969	UNIX™ Operating System	Many contributors
1969	Charge Coupled Device	William Boyle & George E. Smith
1969	Virtual Circ. Switch. (Spider)	Alexander G. Fraser
1969	Strip Hologram	Michael C. King
1969	Scanned-Display Raster	A. Michael Noll
1970	Cell. Wless. Handoff Syst.	A. Joel, Jr., R. Frenkiel, & P. Porter
1970	Adaptive Delta Modulation	N. S. Jayant
1970	Cyl. Pb-Acid Central-Off. Bat.	D. Koontz, D. Feder, L. Babusci & H. Leur
1970	Tact. Force-Fdbk. Haptic Sys.	A. Michael Noll
1970	Ind. Diff. Multidim. Scaling	J. Douglas Carroll & J. J. Chang
1970	Graded-Index Optical Fiber	Many contributors
1972	Lightwave Repeater	J. E. Goell, P. K. Runge
1972	Data Ring	John R. Pierce & Cecil H. Coker
1972	Thin-Film Magn.-Optic Swit.	Many contributors
1973	Cellular Switching Plan	Z.Fluhr & Eric Nussbaum
1973	Adaptive Quant. Diff. PCM	James L. Flanagan, P. Cummiskey & N. S. Jayant
1973	C Programming Language	Dennis M. Ritchie
1974	Electronic Blackboard	O. Gabe Torok
1974	Transvers. Dig.Filter Des.	Lawrence R. Rabiner
1974	Comput. Tomography Alg.	L. A. Shepp & B. F. Logan
1974	Dig. Wire Ctr & Sm. Dig.Switch	Hank McDonald, Joseph Condon, & H. Alles
1975	Single-Mode Laser	T. P. Lee, C. A. Burrus, B. I. Miller & R. A. Logan
1976	No.4 ESS Dig. Switch. Sys.	Many contributors
1976	Video-Teleconf. Svc	Joseph J. Horzepa & team
1976	CCIS	Many contributors
1977	Comm. Optical-Fiber Trans.	Many contributors
1977	Belle Ded.Chess Computer	Joseph H. Condon & Kenneth L. Thompson
1977	Thry.of Disor. States of Mat.	Philip W. Anderson
1977	Hematofluorometer	Many contributors
1978	L5E Coaxial Cable System	Many contributors
1978	Tele. Modular Plug &	Jack Charles L. Krumreich
1978	32-bit Microprocessor	L.Thomas, B. Murphy & Alfred U. Mac Rae
1978	XDS	H. G. Alles, C. Christensen, R. W. Lucky
1978	800 service	Roy P. Weber
1979	Psychoacoustic Mask. Cod.	M. Schroeder, Bishu S. Atal & Joseph L. Hall
1979	Single-Chip DSP	Many contributors
1980	Heterojuction Phototrans.	J.A. Copeland, J. C. Campbell
1980	Dyn. Non-Hier. Ntwk. Rout.	Gerald R. Ash & Richard H. Cartwell
1981	AR6A SSB-SC M-wave Syst.	Many contributors
1982	5ESS® Dig.Switch. Syst.	Many contributors
1982	Fractional Quant. Hall Effect	Horst Störmer, Daniel Tsui & Robert Laughlin
1983	Hidden Markov Chain SR	B-H Juang, S. Levinson, L. Rabiner, & M. Sondhi
1983	Twin-Tub VLSI CMOS	Louis C. Parrillo & Richard S. Payne
1983	Code-Excited LPC	Manfred R. Schroeder & Bishnu S. Atal

Sources: Impact, M. D. Fagen (Editor), 1971; A History of Engineering & Science in the BellSystem – Communications Sciences (1925-1980), S. Millman (Editor), 1984; A History of Engineering & Science in the Bell System – Physical Sciences (1925-1980), S. Millman (Editor), 1983.