Bell labs was awesome.

[Colt45]

The transistor, UNIX, and C.

Oh, and of course the Model 500. From back when stuff was made here and didn't fall apart in 3 days. Doubles as a weapon too.

 

[Pocatello]

We need something like Bell Labs to get the economy going again.

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: Pocatello
We need something like Bell Labs to get the economy going again.

Alas, we as a country now tend to think much more in terms of short term gain rather than what's best over the long haul.

 

[Zebo]

We need another alien ship to scavenge for ideas.

 

[eplebnista]

Bell labs was..?

awesome

 

[geno]

"The transistor"


Looking back on it, they might as well have created the atom. The three things you mentioned impact so many industries, it's ridiculous.

 

[GeekDrew]

Anyone voting "not awesome" ought to be smacked, and then executed for treason.

 

[effowe]

Originally posted by: GeekDrew
Anyone voting "not awesome" ought to be smacked, and then executed for treason.

18-0 Awesome right now

 

[Colt45]

This is a pic of how the first transistor looked... not very pretty huh?

http://www.porticus.org/bell/images/transistor1.jpg

 

[BurnItDwn]

The 2 ex Bell Labs guys I work with here are farking geniuses.
They were awesome, until they got split up into a bunch of pieces and then the pieces all collapsed and everybody got laid off. I liked it better when Bell had more money than god.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Don't forget the cosmic microwave background radiation, which was first measured by Bell Labs, all but confirming the Big Bang theory.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
The 2 ex Bell Labs guys I work with here are farking geniuses.
They were awesome, until they got split up into a bunch of pieces and then the pieces all collapsed and everybody got laid off. I liked it better when Bell had more money than god.

The two guys you worked with were split up into a bunch of pieces? Did you chuck them into a wood chipper or something?

 

[ElFenix]

an economics professor of mine worked for bell labs back in the day. he was quite portly and all his bell labs stories would start off 'back when i worked at bell labs with an expense account even i couldn't eat my way through'

 

[spidey07]

Some of the most important things ever invented came out of Bell Labs. Not only that you can thank them for the reason we can all communicate. They also developed the standards and protocols that all modern communication network use.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
The 2 ex Bell Labs guys I work with here are farking geniuses.
They were awesome, until they got split up into a bunch of pieces and then the pieces all collapsed and everybody got laid off. I liked it better when Bell had more money than god.

The two guys you worked with were split up into a bunch of pieces? Did you chuck them into a wood chipper or something?

Wow, I really "butchered" the wording there ......

 

[Danman]

My Dad worked for Bell Labs on the UNIX project. He said it was awesome.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
Don't forget the cosmic microwave background radiation, which was first measured by Bell Labs, all but confirming the Big Bang theory.

And completely by mistake... and the real work behind it (the theory) didn't get the Nobel, but Penzias and Wilson did

Oh, and they had to kill a bunch of pigeons because their measurements were being messed up by a "white dielectric substance".

 

[Eli]

Don't forget the decibel!

 

[Kadarin]

IIRC Xerox PARC was also pretty awesome.

 

[her209]

Even Chuck Norris worked at Bell Labs.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: Kadarin

Originally posted by: Pocatello
We need something like Bell Labs to get the economy going again.

Alas, we as a country now tend to think much more in terms of short term gain rather than what's best over the long haul.

It's all about the stock price RIGHT NOW.

 

[ultimatebob]

Edison's labs were pretty damn cool as well. Think of all the cool stuff that got invented there...

 

[AccruedExpenditure]

Xerox PARC Labs were just as amazing if not more so...

 

[mchammer]

BELL LABS PWNS ALL.

Regarding the transistor, some dudes from Bell Labs go form a company called Shockley Semiconductor. Mr. Shockley is a genius but a bit eccentric, so they leave and form Fairchild. From there, Fairchild employees (the Fairchildren) like Gordon Moore (heard of him!) go out and found Intel, AMD, and a bunch of others. And yes this back when the USA kicked gratuitous ass.

And I'll probably get flamed, but the GNU/Linux guys owe them too it seems. After all their goal was to make a functional equivalent of UNIX. They even had to say it in the name "Gnu's Not Unix."

 

[sonambulo]

Originally posted by: Colt45
This is a pic of how the first transistor looked... not very pretty huh?

http://www.porticus.org/bell/images/transistor1.jpg

Why do the wires look like that? Is there some kind of functional necessity or is it just the early craftsmanship?

I was reminded immediately of that new NASA antenna when I saw the picture.