U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for July 13: First Phone Booth

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

TRANSISTOR

Profile America — Wednesday, July 13th. One of the most important inventions of our time was announced in early July 1948 in a press release by Bell Laboratories in New Jersey. It was the transfer resistance device — far better known as the transistor. The small, simple, and tough transistor replaced fragile and heat-generating vacuum tubes, which had been the heart of electronics for decades. The discovery led to the development of the integrated circuit and the microprocessor that are the basis of modern electronics. Today, transistor technology makes possible the devices we take for granted in daily life such as computers and cell phones, as well as satellites and medical equipment. Making semiconductors and other components for electronics is an $87 billion per year business employing 270,000 people in over 4,000 businesses. You can find more facts abot America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.

Sources:
Transistor announcement/accessed 5/2/2016: http://www.beatriceco.com/bti/porticus/bell/pdf/bell-labs%20transistor%20announcement.pdf 
Development timeline/accessed 5/2/2016: http://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/timeline/ 
Significance/accessed 5/2/2016: http://techchannel.att.com/play-video.cfm/2012/5/21/AT&T-Archives-Foundations-Information-Age-Transistor 
Manufacturers and employees/NAICS 33441: http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/BP/2014/00A1//naics~33441
Value of products/NAICS 33441: http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ASM/2014/31GS101//naics~33441

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotion of the U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics and accounts drawn from cited non-Census sources are employed for illustrative or narrative purposes, and are not attested to by the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Audio" in the "Library" pull-down menu). 

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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

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