2. The invention of the transistor (1947)

This invention by American physicists John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley revolutionized the way we can construct electronic circuits and led to the development of our modern microcomputers. The computer is considered by some to be the most unpredicted phenomenon of the 1900's although it is now hard to imagine life without it.


In addition to changing our daily lives, the computer made it possible to store, analyze, and retrieve the large amounts of data that allow doctors to use three-dimensional imaging to diagnose a patient's medical condition. In addition, the computer enables a chemist to design drugs that have exactly the right molecular structure to "fit" into a computerized image of a target molecule. It also permits our astronauts to travel to the moon. It allows librarians to store the entire contents of the Library of Congress on a few specialized computer disks.

 

 

Marianna A. Busch is the Chair and a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Baylor University. Her Top 10 list centers on the most important scientific events of the 1900's. She discusses what these events meant to scientists and society in general. She calls attention to a number of the groundbreaking scientists who left their mark on the world of science in this century.

1.

The discovery of the molecular structure of DNA (1953)
2. The invention of the transistor (1947)
3. The first use of penicillin (1928)
4.

Development of the atomic bomb (1940's)
5. The launch of Sputnik I by the Soviet Union (Oct. 4, 1957)
6. Construction of the first laser (1960)
7. The development of new plants and the Green Revolution (mid-1900's)
8. The beginning of nuclear physics (early 1900's)
9. The development of quantum theory (early 1900's)
10. The publication of Silent Spring (1962)