Tesla invents the transistor in 1896

[DuQuense]

In 1932 a couple of Germans built a large Univac type computor using thousand of Vacumn tubes, due to the expense, [Depression] it was scrapped

In the early 1900's the LED was invented, but due to manufacting problems was never developed.

So whe put these together with the early transsistor leading to incresing in manufactuary tech. and a 1/2 inch sized LED

you get the 1936 Olimpics broadcasted live and shown on billboard sizes LED screens controled by early computors at various Ballparks in the US.

 

[Glen]

In 1932 a couple of Germans built a large Univac type computor using thousand of Vacumn tubes, due to the expense, [Depression] it was scrapped

In the early 1900's the LED was invented, but due to manufacting problems was never developed.

So whe put these together with the early transsistor leading to incresing in manufactuary tech. and a 1/2 inch sized LED

you get the 1936 Olimpics broadcasted live and shown on billboard sizes LED screens controled by early computors at various Ballparks in the US.

You are a wild man, DQ!

 

[MacCaulay]

I always keep getting attracted to these topics like a moth to a flame.

DuQuense: The 1932 Olympics broadcast live...I love it. Would this also mean, then that the United States might be wired during the Depression? One thing I've noticed is that people seem to think the Depression was a time where everything technical went to the sidelines. During the New Deal, everything was expanded. I'd love to see the Tennessee Valley Authority armed with this stuff.

 

[Max Sinister]

It would be cool, but televisions are expensive... not too many Americans in the depression could afford one...

 

[Glen]

It would be cool, but televisions are expensive... not too many Americans in the depression could afford one...

Yep, but they all might gather at the general store to watch the fireside chat every week..

 

[Glen]

BTW, with the addition of the LED stuff...are we saying that flat panel television develops FIRST ITTL?

This would have a revolutionary difference in 20th century Interior Design (my wife's an Interior Designer, so I'm attuned to these issues. ).

 

[danielb1]

With transistor tech, more technologies might develop:

1. "radio" telephones: While I seriously doubt cellular phone technology would make it big pre-World War II, a primitive cordless phone might work. Have a phone line connect to a radio transmitter, another radio transmitter on the phone itself, and you'll have a primitive phone you can hold and walk around the house with you (although it would be more of a 'luggable' phone than one you can hold in one hand while stirring a pot with the other). This might work in rural areas - several houses can share a 'party line' from a nearby radio tower. I have no idea if either of these would be a commercial success, probably not, but someone will no doubt propose them.

2. Home Calculator Kits: So a well-to-do whiz kid can assemble a transistor adding machine of his or her own. Might make some controversy among math teachers.

3. Computers: With the availability of transistors, computer technology will in the 1930s be roughly 20-25 years ahead of OTL, meaning computers will be large mainframe systems. If someone gets the idea to make the computers modular, you'll have systems like the IBM 650 - which was the first mass-produced computer in OTL (meaning over a thousand built). Even assuming a great depression the government and some large businesses will go bananas for these machines - most will have them by 1940 or so.

4. Television: while I doubt we'll see LEDs small enough for a television, those large screens in ballparks are likely. Still, transistors will make early TVs smaller and probably cheaper, resulting in increasing popularity.

#3 and #4 will have a big impact, combined. Computer technology could reach an early 1960s level during World War II - while further development beyond that will be slowed by a lack of integrated circuits, other developments could take place. Use of telephone lines to allow coded messages between machines in different parts of the country could be the earliest networking and an ancestor to an 'internet' in the 1950s. Typewriters would likely be converted into teletype machines, earlier TVs and transistors might even mean early terminals.

More computer tech will result in a faster Manhattan project and other developments that make history very different from OTL. Computers will allow more accurate statistical modeling in many areas. Accounting practices will be more advanced. The stock market might use computers for various purposes as well. By the 1950s, changes will make things almost unrecognizable.

 

[NapoleonXIV]

Hey, great minds DO work alike

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=36506&highlight=deForest

However, I did not realize that he had actually invented logic circuits.

I still think a good POD here might be to have Tesla and Edison remain friends and become partners instead of rivals. Edison's shabby treatment of Tesla has always been a mystery to me, for it was just in the care and feeding of touchy geniuses that Edison seemed to excel. Most of the inventions credited to him were actually products of the world's first research laboratory, under his rather complete control and tutelage, of course.

Had Tesla still been with Edison's researchers it seems likely that the peripheral inventions that led to the microchip might have followed in short order

Or maybe not, most of IC tech has to do with photolithography, IIRC, and that was not really a known technology until 1935. (though again, photography was invented in the early 1800's and lithography goes back even further than that, so who can say what Menloco might have done with it.)

 

[Glen]

Hey, great minds DO work alike

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=36506&highlight=deForest

However, I did not realize that he had actually invented logic circuits.

I still think a good POD here might be to have Tesla and Edison remain friends and become partners instead of rivals. Edison's shabby treatment of Tesla has always been a mystery to me, for it was just in the care and feeding of touchy geniuses that Edison seemed to excel. Most of the inventions credited to him were actually products of the world's first research laboratory, under his rather complete control and tutelage, of course.

Had Tesla still been with Edison's researchers it seems likely that the peripheral inventions that led to the microchip might have followed in short order

Or maybe not, most of IC tech has to do with photolithography, IIRC, and that was not really a known technology until 1935. (though again, photography was invented in the early 1800's and lithography goes back even further than that, so who can say what Menloco might have done with it.)

I say circumvent the Vacuum age, have a much more extended Transistor Age, and only a mildly early Microchip age.

 

[David S Poepoe]

Hey, great minds DO work alike

I still think a good POD here might be to have Tesla and Edison remain friends and become partners instead of rivals. Edison's shabby treatment of Tesla has always been a mystery to me, for it was just in the care and feeding of touchy geniuses that Edison seemed to excel. Most of the inventions credited to him were actually products of the world's first research laboratory, under his rather complete control and tutelage, of course.

One problem is that Edison (at the time) would never have accepted the idea of Alternating Current since he had so much invested in Direct Current. Just take a look at how nasty the 'War of the Currents' became. There were alot of egos involved as well as millions of dollars and the potential to make much more.

 

[Glen]

One problem is that Edison (at the time) would never have accepted the idea of Alternating Current since he had so much invested in Direct Current. Just take a look at how nasty the 'War of the Currents' became. There were alot of egos involved as well as millions of dollars and the potential to make much more.

Good point.

 

[NapoleonXIV]

One problem is that Edison (at the time) would never have accepted the idea of Alternating Current since he had so much invested in Direct Current. Just take a look at how nasty the 'War of the Currents' became. There were alot of egos involved as well as millions of dollars and the potential to make much more.

Isn't is fairly simple to convert one to the other in the device it powers?

Also, was it entirely ego? My understanding is that even AC could not be transmitted over more than few miles until the work of Steinmetz in the early 1900's made it possible. Given that limitation then the drawbacks of DC (it must be manufactured within a mile or so of its intended user) becomes no great disadvantage since AC had it too.

Btw, IIRC Edison's vision was of a plethora of tiny generators scattered throughout the cities and villages. These would be able to respond rapidly to the many and unpredictable daily variations in demand for electricity, which remain a main problem in the industry to this day

 

[Glen]

Isn't is fairly simple to convert one to the other in the device it powers?

Also, was it entirely ego? My understanding is that even AC could not be transmitted over more than few miles until the work of Steinmetz in the early 1900's made it possible. Given that limitation then the drawbacks of DC (it must be manufactured within a mile or so of its intended user) becomes no great disadvantage since AC had it too.

Btw, IIRC Edison's vision was of a plethora of tiny generators scattered throughout the cities and villages. These would be able to respond rapidly to the many and unpredictable daily variations in demand for electricity, which remain a main problem in the industry to this day

Hmmm...sounds like a DC powered world might be less prone to the problems incurred with an ISOT...

 

[danwild6]

Picking up on an old topic, Tesla's invention of the transistor would have taken his star to an all new level. The War of Currents had pretty much ended that same year with the construction of the Niagara power station. Now combining his knowledge of radio with the transistor, Tesla develops the transistor radio.

The transistor radio would've become one of the greatest consumer products of the 20th century(it was after all 50yrs later)enabling the masses to tune into the new medium of radio. What you'd have is a 1900's equivalent of the dot com boom of the 1990's.

Such a level of fame would have lead Tesla to earn the confidence of the nation, Tesla's statements regarding the wireless transmission of electricity may end up receiving a lot of positive attention. Tesla could end up receiving government backing for his Colorado Springs venture.

 

[Torqumada]

Such a level of fame would have lead Tesla to earn the confidence of the nation, Tesla's statements regarding the wireless transmission of electricity may end up receiving a lot of positive attention. Tesla could end up receiving government backing for his Colorado Springs venture.

The US wins WW2 with Tesla inspired death rays, just like what almost happened in real life!

Torqumada

 

[danwild6]

Tesla also worked on circular shaped craft very similar to many reports of UFOs. This craft of course was powered by transmitting wireless electricity than converting it into some form of massless propulsion. Perhaps his research will inspire others, Thomas Townsend Brown developed similar ideas on space travel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Townsend_Brown

 

[Philip]

If memory serves, the design of a transistor requires an understanding of quantum mechanics. Until physics reaches this point, it is impossible for someone to invent a transistor.

 

[Grey Wolf]

How about as a POD Westinghouse's backers after the merger do not insist in stripping out Tesla's royalties clause from his contract, thus allowing him to have the private means to pursue his interests ?

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

 

[danwild6]

Technically yes to fully understand how the transistor works quantum mechanics is necessary. That however doesn't negate the possibility of its invention and further development. Actually it could've lead to a more rapid development of quantum mechanics, the transistor's physical properties would be of great interest to any chemist or physicist.

 

[biffer]

If the basic elements of microchip computing are about in the 20s and 30s, what kind of advances would Alan Turing and the other geniuses at Bletchley Park have been able to come up with?

Alan Turing becomes the equivalent of Bill Gates / Steve Jobs?