Archives:Fifty Years of Electron Devices: The IEEE Electron Devices Society and Its Technologies

Abstract 

From the Foreword of the Electron Devices Society's 50th Anniversary Booklet:

The formation of the IRE Professional Group on Electron Devices in 1952 followed shortly after the most important invention of the past century, the transistor. The work of Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley and subsequent developments by other giants in the field of electron devices have indeed revolutionized the way we live and the way we think. In the past fifty years, we have witnessed how the results of these developments dramatically and irreversibly improved our lives and livelihood. In his narrative, Michael Riordan captures both the principal events marking these technological advances and the evolution of the Electron Devices Society in its first fifty years. He has succeeded in making the critical connections between the two, and the resulting history is of great value to our members as well as to historians of technology. I cannot think of a better means of commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of our Society than this historical account. As the information technology revolution continues and as we approach the limit of Moore’s Law, we breathlessly await what will unfold in the next fifty years.

The Electron Devices Society is grateful to former President Craig Casey for shepherding this important project from the start. Not only did he provide effective leadership to the 50th Anniversary Booklet Committee, he was also the principal researcher of most of the contents. His committee members, Jim Early, Tak Ning, Lew Terman, Richard True, and I, have contributed valuable contents to the manuscript, as well as proofread its numerous revisions. Our Society is indebted to staff member Laura Riello for her excellent work in coordinating the editorial and production activities among the Committee, the author, and the IEEE Marketing Department. She was indeed principally responsible for the timely completion of the final product.

It was not the purpose of this booklet to cite all the inventions in the field of electron devices or all the volunteer leaders of the Society. There are electron device topics and significant contributions by EDS members to the Society and device technology that were not included due to space limitations. I hope that regardless of one’s professional affiliation and expertise, the reader will be fascinated by the key historical elements along the evolutionary and revolutionary path of the technology made possible by the invention of electron devices.

Cary Y. Yang
EDS President, 2000-2001 

Citation and Link to Full Booklet

Fifty Years of Electron Devices: The IEEE Electron Devices Society and Its Technologies, 1952-2002 (New York: IEEE, 2002).

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