Overview of the History of Electronics

HISTORY OF ELECTRONICS
AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT

Electronics’ actual history began with the

invention of vacuum diode by J.A. Fleming, in 1897;
and, after that, a vacuum triode was implemented by
Lee De Forest to amplify electrical signals. This led
to the introduction of tetrode and pentode tubes
that dominated the world until World War II.

Subsequently, the transistor

era began with the junction
transistor invention in 1948.
Even though this particular
invention got a Nobel Prize,
yet it was later replaced
with a bulky vacuum tube
that would consume high
power for its operation. The use of germanium and
silicon semiconductor materials made these
transistors gain popularity and wide-acceptance
usage in different electronic circuits.
 Overview of the History of Electronics

The subsequent years witnessed

the invention of the integrated
circuits (ICs) that drastically
changed the electronic
circuits’ nature as the entire
electronic circuit got
integrated on a single chip,
which resulted in low: cost, size, and weight
electronic devices. The years 1958 to 1975 marked the
introduction of IC with enlarged capabilities of
over several thousand components on a single chip
such as small-scale integration, medium-large
scale, and very-large-scale integration ICs.

And the trend further carried forward with the

JFETS and MOSFETs that were developed from 1951 to
1958 by improving the device designing process and
by making more reliable and powerful transistors.

Digital integrated circuits were yet another

robust IC development that changed the overall
architecture of computers. These ICs were
developed with Transistor-transistor logic (TTL),
integrated injection logic (I2L), and emitter-
coupled logic (ECL) technologies.
 Overview of the History of Electronics

Later these digital ICs employed PMOS, NMOS, and

CMOS fabrication design technologies.

All these radical changes in all these components

led to the introduction of microprocessors in 1969
by Intel. Soon after, the analog integrated
circuits were developed that introduced an
operational amplifier for analog signal processing.
These analog circuits include analog multipliers,
ADC and DAC converters, and analog filters.

Major events in the history of electronics:

1752 – Benjamin Franklin discovered that
lightning is electrical by flying a kite, and
explained how Leyden jars work.
1800 – Alessandro Volta invented battery (Dry
Cell).
1820 – AndrE Marie AmpEre published his law of
electrodynamics called AmpEre’s law.
1826 – Georg Ohm introduced Ohm’s Law.
1831 – Michael Faraday published the law of
induction.
1931 – Michael Faraday invented transformer.
1831 – Joseph Henry developed a prototype DC
motor.
 Overview of the History of Electronics

1836 – Nicholas Callan invented transformer.

1844 – Samuel Morse developed telegraphy and
the Morse code.
1856 – Charles Bourseul proposed telephony.
1862 – James Clerk Maxwell published four
equations bearing his name “Maxwell’s
equations“.
1876 – Alexander Graham Bell invented telephone.
1877 – Thomas Alva Edison invented phonograph.
1878 – Joseph Swan invented Incandescent light
bulb.
1879 – Thomas Alva Edison introduced a long
lasting filament for incandescent lamp.
1887 – Nikola Tesla invented the first induction
motor.
1888 – Heinrich Hertz proved that electro
magnetic waves travel over some distance.
1890 – Thomas Alva Edison invented fuse.
1897 – Karl Ferdinand Braun invented cathode
ray oscilloscope (CRO).
1901 – Guglielmo Marconi made first
transatlantic radio broadcast.
1904 – John Ambrose Fleming invented diode.
1906 – Lee de Forest invented triode.
 Overview of the History of Electronics

1912 – Edwin Howard Armstrong developed

Electronic oscillator.
1915 – Albert Einstein published the Theory of
Relativity.
1941 – Konrad Zuse developed the first
programmable computer.
1943 – Eisler invented the Printed Circuit
Board.
1958 – Jack Kilby invented the integrated
circuit (IC).
1962 – Nick Holonyak Jr. invented the LED.
1962 – Hofstein, Heiman, and RCA invented
MOSFET Transistors.
1964 – Kemeny and Kurtz introduced the BASIC
programming language.
1970 – INTEL introduced the first
Microprocessor.
1971 – Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore formed
Intel.