If two is company, then three is a crowd——unless it happens to be a transistor. In the early days, this term is almost always associated with the germanium or silicon based maverick that has permeated into every electronic devices since its inception. Today, it's a different story altogether.
The transistor story, however, can be traced as far back to the era of the thermionic valves. I remember well the first lesson I had in my secondary school days was the theory and operation of the venerable triode. Talk about big brother!
Walter Brattain, John Bardeen and William Shockley of the Bell Telephone Laboratories might have been proud of their breakthrough when they came up with the first transistor prototype, but I believe Sir John Ambrose Fleming should be credited with the invention of the thermionic valve which ultimately led to the birth of the transistor four decades later.
Today's engineers certainly walk on the shoulders of these giants of bygone years.
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