Best invention of the 20th century?

mame said:
I saw this topic covered in a newspaper somewhere a few years ago. They decided that the Digital Camera was the the best invention. It seems an odd choice in a way but its because of the Digital Camera that pretty much everything is documented in photo or video.
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Good luck having digital cameras without transistors.

I think semiconductors were used before the 20th century, I'm sure someone who knows their electronics will confirm / deny :)
 
mame said:
Well I suppose but we don't say that a car isn't much of an invention because it uses a wheel apparently invented by cavemen.
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A car is just the natural progression from a traction engine. The engine being the key difference...

The transistor was such a huge step up from valves and is essential for a lot of the modern things we take for granted. The internet wouldn't exist with out it.
 
Yamahahahahaha said:
Good luck having digital cameras without transistors.

I think semiconductors were used before the 20th century, I'm sure someone who knows their electronics will confirm / deny :)
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I'm not sure about that. The Cat's Whisker was a sort of early semiconductor diode, but AFAIK was only really invented after the turn of the 20th century in radio circuits etc. The bipolar transistor was where it really all kicked off, and that was a bit later still.
 
Jokester said:
I would go with this, rather than the transistor. It was the development of the integrated circuit that really changed the world we live in. ICs are found pretty much in any device that's even remotely technological these days.
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What do you think ICs are made out of? :o

Thinking about it some more ICs are a natural result of continual improvement of transistor design/miniaturisation... rather than a giant leap forward, as was achieved with solid state transistors.

So I'm changing my vote to transistor. :p
 
daz said:
What do you think ICs are made out of? :o

Thinking about it some more ICs are a natural result of continual improvement of transistor design/miniaturisation... rather than a giant leap forward, as was achieved with solid state transistors.

So I'm changing my vote to transistor. :p
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Discrete transistors weren't game changing though, it was integrating them with all the other components that are required for a circuit onto a single slab of silicon, that was mass produceable, that changed the world.
 
Jokester said:
Discrete transistors weren't game changing though, it was integrating them with all the other components that are required for a circuit onto a single slab of silicon, that was mass produceable, that changed the world.
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I think that's just a natural result of miniaturisation though, rather than a giant leap forward.
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