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SCANNING OUR PAST

P R O C E E D I N G S O F T H E IEEETHROUGH 100 YEARS:

1950–1959

I. THE STATE OFTHE WORLD

The 1950s epitomize the Banxiety and

affluence[ experienced in the postwar

period between 1945 and 1965 [1].

The most powerful nation in the

world after World War II, the United

States rapidly converted its economyto peacetime markets, fueling a mid-

dle-class boom, while remaining en-

gaged in world affairs. Overhanging

and coloring all other events globally

was the standoff, or Cold War, bet-

ween the two great powers, the

United States and the Union of Soviet

Socialist Republics (USSR). The mil-itary tensions between the diametri-

cally opposed political economies

grew during the 1950s with the steady

accretion of nuclear weapons, deliv-

ery systems, and allied states.AQ1On the U.S. side, fears of Soviet

expansionism, nuclear weapons, and

the prospect of a surprise attack a laPearl Harbor resulted in BA report to

the National Security CouncilVNSC-68,[ presented to President

Harry S. Truman in spring 1950.

During the previous fall, the USSR

had detonated its first atomic bomb

and the Chinese Communist Party

had driven the Guomintang or Na-tionalist Party to Taiwan. To counter

this Eurasian threat the authors re-

commended, among other things, a

Bsubstantial increase in expenditures

for military purposes[ to defend the

West and its communications net-

works; expanded intelligence opera-tions; and Bincreased taxes[ to pay for

it all [2]. North Korea’s invasion of

South Korea in June appeared to con-

firm Americans’ worst fears of Soviet-

style communism. Four years later, to

limit expenses and offset the USSR’s

manpower advantage in a convention-

al war, the United States announced apolicy of Bmassive retaliation[ that

increased funding of nuclear weapons

and delivery systems as well as recon-

naissance, intelligence, communica-

tions, and radar technologiesVand

the interstate highway system. All of

these investments required new tech-

nologies and the efforts of large num-bers of engineers, funded by the

federal government.

Corresponding with the nuclear

fear was the rising tide of prosperity

that affected people around the world.

Already the richest nation in the

world, the United States raised its

gross domestic product (GDP) from$290 billion to over $520 billion in the

decade. Across the country, families

moved out of cramped apartments and

small houses in cities for the spacious

precincts of new suburbs where auto-

mobiles and commuter rail defined

transportation, rather than bus, tram,

subway, or feet. They filled their newand larger homes with improved elec-

trical appliances and the new medium,

television, first in monochrome on

cathode-ray tubes (CRTs), and then

The competingenvironments of Cold War

fear and post–World War IIconsumer prosperity largely

defined the budgets forresearch and development

of technologies documentedin the 120 issues of the

Proceedings of the IEEEduring the 1950s.

Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/JPROC.2012.2190813

Fig. 1. A Kollsman Instrument Corporation

advertisement published in the PROCEEDINGS

OF THE IRE, vol. 39, no. 7, July 1951.

| Proceedings of the IEEE 10018-9219/$31.00 �2012 IEEE

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increasingly in color by the end of thedecade. Overseas, European and Asian

nations rebuilt political, economic,

and social systems in the aftermath

of World War II or the withdrawal of

British, French, and Dutch rulers from

their former empires. China largely

withdrew behind a BBamboo Curtain[after 23 years of civil war. Europeansand Japanese enjoyed new buildings

and the spread of television. Younger

family members began embracing the

new music of rock Fn_ roll, personified

in Elvis Presley, listening to AM radio

stations on portable receivers using

first vacuum tubes and then transis-

tors. They and their parents alsolistened to popular and classical music

on monophonic disc records made of

vinyl compounds and, in some cases,

prerecorded magnetic tapes. Improv-

ing and expanding the technologies of

middle-class life also required large

numbers of engineers funded by cor-

porate initiatives.

II . THE STATE OF THE IREAND THE P R O C E E D I N G

The continuing and expanding role of

electronics across commercial and

military technologies (Fig. 1) fueled

the expansion of the Institute of RadioEngineers (IRE). Its 1950 member-

ship of 27 000 grew 14% per year to

70 000 by 1959 [3], [4], [5], p. 1270.

Within those numbers lay an inevita-

ble specialization approved by the IRE

board in the formation of the Profes-

sional Groups, starting with Audio

and Broadcast in 1948 and continuingwith Nuclear Science, Circuit Theory,

Electronic Computers, and 13 others

in 1950–1951 [6]. Specialist groups

generated specialist publications. En-

gineers and scientists continued to

extend Bradio[ techniques and tech-

nologies into fields and materials both

related to and removed from those ofthe first generation of the organiza-

tion. The IRE board approved the

Groups’ TRANSACTIONS series, which

had originated as BNewsletters[ and

comprised 98 pages in 1951 [7].

Their volume matched PROCEEDINGS’

three years later.

Even so, Editor Alfred Goldsmith

(Fig. 2) and PROCEEDINGS’ editorial

department struggled to accommo-

date the explosion of submissions

that began with the backlog of articles

withheld during World War II. The

number of editorial pages in the jour-nal grew annually in the decade from

1500 to 2300. Notwithstanding the

success of the new IRE outlets for

technical information, the editors

made regular requests of authors to

reduce their articles’ length by up to

50%, and the IRE approved of or

found other hosts for publications.PROCEEDINGS began to copy the phys-

ics community’s Bletter[ format for

alerting readers to recent events in

the field. From 29 letters in 1950, the

number swelled to nearly 500 by

1962. The flagship journal also re-

ferred readers through abstracts to the

TRANSACTIONS and the AmericanDocumentation Institute for longer

articles in 1952 [5].

Before he retired as editor in

December 1953, after serving 41 years

since the journal’s inception, Gold-

smith instituted a number of reforms

built on by his successors. Together

with the Education Committee heoversaw the inception of tutorial

Fig. 2. Alfred Goldsmith (IEEE History Center).

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articles in 1952. October 1951 markedthe inauguration of special issues, the

first providing 400 pages on the sub-

ject of color television, which was in

the midst of a technological and regu-

latory battle royal at the Federal Com-

munications Commission (FCC).

Sixteen more specials followed that

decade and hundreds more since.Goldsmith’s successor, John R. Pierce,

rearranged the editorial board to cut

in half the time to publication and

began commissioning review articles

on contemporary subjects. Subse-

quent editors Donald G. Fink and

John D. Ryder began a number of edi-

torial features, including BScanningthe Issue,[ which remains in place

today [5, p. 1272].

III . PR O C E E D I N G S

TECHNOLOGIES INTHE 1950 S

The environments of fear and pros-perity largely defined the budgets for

research and development of technol-

ogies documented in the 120 issues of

the PROCEEDINGS during the 1950s.

Because of security issues, authors

often left unexplained the rationale

for researching and developing cer-

tain technologies, and not all subjectsrelated to the most sophisticated tech-

nologies could be published publicly.

The changes in the IRE’s publication

structure also affected PROCEEDINGS’

subjects. This brief review surveys

some highlights in the journal’s cov-

erage of television, computers, semi-

conductors and miniaturization, andspace research and technologies.

IV. TELEVISION

By New Year’s Day, 1950, the United

States was in the middle of a televi-

sion boom (Fig. 3). Americans bought

170 000 receivers in 1947, 975 000 in1948, 3 000 000 in 1949, and they

doubled that figure in 1950 [8]. They

bought and watched limited program-

ming despite an FCC freeze on new

broadcast station licenses between

1948 and 1952 while the FCC sorted

out allocation issues. By 1960, 89% of

American households had a television

receiver, 56 million in total [9],

[10, p. 82]. Elsewhere, the 1960

totals were 11 million for the

United Kingdom, 6 million for Japan,

5 million for USSR, 4.6 million for

West Germany, and 1.2 million forBrazil [10].

The need for more channels and

the desire for color television drove

research and development into ultra-

high frequencies (UHFs) and color

video transmission and display. Color

television’s origins go back almost as

far as the reduction to practice ofmonochrome television in the 1920s

[11]. The primary challenges in ob-

taining a practical commercial color

system were twofold. One was syste-

mic: how to transmit a signal triple

the bandwidth of monochrome video?

Peter Goldmark of CBS proposed us-

ing UHF frequencies as part of CBS’songoing call for a field-sequential

color TV standard between 1940 and

1953 [12], [13]. The other was creat-

ing a practical display for the home.

The UHF spectrum was the sub-

ject of the journal’s third special issue

in January 1953 [14]. As Goldsmith

put it, BThe recent action of the Fed-eral Communications Commission in

Fig. 3. An RCA advertisement published in the PROCEEDINGS OF THE IRE, vol. 39, no. 11,

November 1951.

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fopening the uhf (sic) band for com-

mercial television broadcasting in

the United States is a matter of

more than ordinary consequence.[ It

represented not only opportunities for

solving problems in transmission,interference, measurement, control,

components, and devices, but it also

promised technical opportunities in

other fields as engineers and compa-

nies innovated solutions for UHF te-

levision [15]. RCA Laboratories and

NBC began operating the first UHF

station, KC2XAK, in Bridgeport, CT,on December 29, 1949, to learn about

the feasibility of UHF television trans-

mission [16]. In April 1952, the FCC

tried to resolve the demand for new

stations by opening UHF channel

allocations. That summer NBC trans-

ferred its equipment to KPTV in

Portland, OR, which was at the time

the second largest city in the UnitedStates without a TV station. KPTV be-

gan the world’s first commercial UHF

TV operation on September 20 [17].

The FCC’s efforts to mix very high-

frequency (VHF) and UHF TV

stations failed for a variety of com-

mercial and political reasons [18], but

not for the lack of effort on the part ofinterested engineers, as the special is-

sue indicates. A key issue was a tuner

compatible with VHF channel selec-

tors on extant TV receivers, whichengineers at Hazeltine Corporation

provided [19]. Without a government

mandate to include UHF tuners on

receivers, however, manufacturers

felt little incentive to add the extra

expense.

As CBS had done very little re-

search on the nature of UHF propa-gation for its color TV proposal, RCA’s

engineers advocated retaining com-

patibility with the 6-MHz bandwidth

channels already standard for mono-

chrome television by compression of

the color signal. The IRE began its

coverage of color television through

reproduction of an independent re-port by the IRE members of the

Senate Advisory Committee on Color

Television in September 1950 [20].

RCA, CBS, and a third company,

Color Television Incorporated (CTI),

had been demonstrating their respec-

tive systems in Washington, DC, since

fall 1949 and RCA had shown theshadow-mask color CRT publicly for

the first time in March. Four months

later, the authors refused to endorse

any one of the three systems, citing

the need to consider Bmany social

and economic factors not properly

the concern of the technical analyst.[The framing of their report, how-ever, reviewed RCA’s system last

and concluded with a recommenda-

tion to support the system most

likely to enjoy further industry back-

ing, which happened to be RCA’s

[20, p. 980 and 996].

The equivocal report and vigorous

lobbying by RCA did not deter theFCC’s commissioners from making

CBS’s system the centerpiece of a

Bbracket[ standard in October and

the exclusive standard between 1951

and 1953. The rush to color was an

embarrassment for the government

and CBS, especially as Alda Bedford

had solved much of the color com-pression issue with the principle of

mixed highs [21], and the industry

reformed the National Television

Systems Committee (NTSC) around

RCA’s system the next year. In

October 1951 Goldsmith introduced

the PROCEEDINGS’ first color cover and

Fig. 4. Cover of the PROCEEDINGS OF THE IRE, vol. 39, no. 10, October 1951.

AQ2

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Special Issue on Color Television[22]. The editor described the con-

tents of the Bgreatly expanded[ issue

as Bexceptional contributions to a

field in which basic progress has re-

cently been made,[ approved in full

by the IRE Executive Committee. He

foresaw interest in the subject by a

variety of social scientists and mem-bers of the color industries because

the techniques discussed offered Ba

whole new series of instrumentalities

for the control of color[ [23].

The bulk of the articles covered

the solution to other obstacle in prac-

tical color television: a method for

registering the three primary colors ofan image simultaneously in a device

appropriate for the average house-

hold. Among the many possibilities

proposed and tested at RCA [24], the

shadow-mask CRT using three elec-

tron guns proved to be a standard used

around the world for over 50 years

[25]. With the material needs of theKorean War relieving CBS of the need

to propagate its field-sequential sys-

tem, RCA and the NTSC refined and

field tested RCA’s standard proposal,

winning FCC approval, with CBS’s

support, in December 1953.

On the cover of the Color Televi-

sion Special Issue in January 1954, anNTSC pennant waved the primary ad-

ditive and complementary colors. Be-

sides the introductory essays by NTSC

chairmen, it contained articles distill-

ing the research and field-testing ef-

forts of the previous two years; and

NTSC panel tutorials intended to

help disseminate the committee’sstandardizing efforts in receiving,

transmitting, and displaying color

broadcasts [26]. Together with the

October 1951 issue, it offered readers

the most complete technical coverage

of a standard that remained in place

for over 50 years.

V. COMPUTERS

While the television industry refined

and improved an established system,

the computer industry was just start-

ing to organize itself. The IRE formed

the Professional Group on Electronic

Computers in 1951. Two years later,2000 members had joined, many of

whom paid two dollars to receive

their quarterly copies of TRANSAC-

TIONS [27]. AlthoughVor perhaps

becauseVthe group was so popular,

there existed space for a virtual fifth

issue in 1953 in PROCEEDINGS’

October edition. As guest editorWerner Buchholz explained, the spe-

cial issue served the dual purpose of

introducing Bthe non-specialist reader

to the new and exciting field of elec-

tronic computer engineering, and to

furnish the specialist with a single vol-

ume of reference material on a wide

variety of computer subjects[ [28].The publication offered a who’s

who of computer pioneers. Claude

Shannon (Fig. 5) wrote an invited

paper on the state and future of com-

puting machines, which he concluded

with a literate consideration of pro-

spects for a self-reproducing machine

[29]. Grace Hopper and John W.Mauchly (Fig. 6) made a pioneering

call to hardware designers to consult

with the Bprogrammer[ or software

writers while designing new machines

to increase their efficiency in opera-

tion and the interface with users. They

also explained the development of

automatic compiling of program codeand routines, none of which was yet Ba

production model[ [30, p. 1254].

Simulating natural behavior on a

computer raised the issue of resolving

the differences between digital andanalog computational techniques for

this purpose from an early point in

computer development [31]. In the

special issue, researchers surveyed

methods of analog-to-digital conver-

sion and smoothing the record of input

data on a digital computer [32], [33],

the latter being of obvious interest tothe Sperry Gyroscope Company [34].

Robert Serrell, Chair of the IRE

Electronic Computers Committee, in-

troduced engineers to a mathematical

and uniform symbolic basis for the use

of Boolean algebra in studying in-

formation systems. Serrell included

some examples of binary adder cir-cuits to show the advantages of

Boolean algebra in their design [35].

For his article on a new binary coun-

ter, Ware of the Rand Corporation

thanked both the U.S. Army fund-

ing contract and the Institute for

Advanced Study. There John von

Neumann’s BJOHNNIAC[ computer,itself underwritten by the U.S. Air

Force, provided Ware with a test bed

for his single- and multiple-stage

counter in one device [36], [37]. Not

all computer R&D was directed to-

ward or by the military, however;

IBM’s first mass-produced computer,

the 701, was the subject of three arti-cles [38], [39], [40]; see also [41].

Fig. 5. Claude Shannon (IEEE History Center).

Fig. 6. John Mauchly (IEEE History Center).

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The stumbling block to electroniccomputing was memoryVstoring,

addressing, and retrieving analog or

digital information. After Eckert’s

classic survey of approaches [42],

RCA’s Rajchman took pride of place

for his solution to large-scale random

access memory: the 10-kb Myriabit

ferrite core matrix [43]. Rajchmanand Lo later developed ferrite cores

into the multiaperture Btransfluxor,[whose properties made it a passive

element unlike any other in its capa-

city for switching and storing signals

from the setting of an initial pulse

[44]. PROCEEDINGS had covered ear-

lier work in what became the standardmemory technology for 20 years with

publication of Wang’s 1951 article on

BMagnetic delay line storage.[ Funded

by the U.S. Air Force and Harvard

University, Wang reported on his con-

tinuing efforts to make a practical

solid-state computer storage system

using magnetic ferrite cores [45].

VI. TRANSISTORS,SEMICONDUCTORS, ANDMINIATURIZATION

Even before Bell Laboratories’ an-

nouncement of the transistor in

1948, military and commercial pres-sures pushed the electronics industry

toward miniaturization and integra-

tion of components in mass-produced

packaging. During World War II and

the postwar television boom, the Na-

tional Bureau of Standards and RCA

began manufacturing printed circuit

boards in processes adopted or ad-apted by other companies [46], [47].

These techniques integrated active

devices in the form of miniature elec-

tron, or vacuum, tubes well into the

1950s, for the limitations of transis-

tors (noise, frequency response),

magnetic amplifiers, and selenium

rectifiers in airborne electronics es-pecially made improving the me-

chanical qualities and tolerances of

electron tubes the primary solution to

reliability problemsAQ3 [48]. With the

new B-52 intercontinental bomber

using over 2100 tubes, this was no

small issue [49].

Nonetheless, virtually from the

time of Bell Labs’ announcement of

the transistor, members of the elec-

tronics industry understood where the

future of the field lay. Goldsmith in-

troduced PROCEEDINGS’ second spe-

cial issue in November 1952 on Ba

novel, significant, and rapidly devel-oping field.[ Specifically it focused on

Belectronic devices based on germa-

nium, thus including Ftransistors_[[50]. Researchers contributed 48

articles, including two by William

Shockley (Fig. 7) introducing the con-

cept of a unipolar field-effect transis-

tor and one by Esther Conwell (Fig. 8)on the Bfundamental properties of

germanium and silicon, which are of

device interest, currently or poten-

tially[ [51], [52], [53].1

Seven months later, George Szik-

lai first observed and acted on the no-

vel characteristics that distinguished

transistors from vacuum tubes. Thecomplementary and symmetrical

properties of p-n-p and n-p-n transis-

tors enabled simpler and more power-

efficient circuits in radio, radar, con-

trols, amplifiers, and television [54].

While Texas Instruments and Re-

gency Electronics produced and sold

the first transistor radios [55],2 [56],3

RCA Labs staff demonstrated the first

transistorized TV in October 1952.

The model, encased in a Lucite case,offered a five-inch CRT display and 37

point-contact and junction transistors

drawing 13 W. The size of a shoebox,

it weighed 37 lb and could receive one

channel five miles distant [57], [58].

In December 1955, Editor John R.

Pierce (Fig. 9) introduced the Solid-

State Electronics Special Issue withthe observation that most of the es-

sential knowledge on materials Bhas

been developed by physicists, che-

mists, and metallurgists, and much of

this information has not yet filtered

across to the engineer[ [59]. Most of

the 17 articles focused on photoef-

fects, ranging from Albert Rose’sBphenomenological analysis[ of the

increasing conductivity of materials

Fig. 7. William Shockley (IEEE History Center). Fig. 8. Esther Conwell (IEEE History Center).

1Conwell stated in an oral history that shewrote Shockley’s first article at his request:BInterview of Esther Conwell by BabrakAshra-fi on January 22, 2007,[ Niels Bohr Library &Archives, American Institute of Physics, Col-lege Park, MD, www.aip.org/history/ohilist/29913.html.

2Paul W. Cooper and J. O’Brien of the U.S.Army Signal Corps Engineering Laboratoriesbuilt, demonstrated, and patented the firsttransistor radio in 1953.

3Texas Instruments and IDEA’s RegencyDivision Announced the Regency TR-1 Transis-tor Radio October 18, 1954.

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fexposed to radiation to the demon-

stration of an electroluminescent flat-

panel display requested by RCA’schairman, General David Sarnoff4

[60], [61].

The second Transistor Special

Issue appeared on the tenth anniver-

sary of Bell Labs’ announcement of

the device’s invention. By 1958, tran-

sistor sales had risen in six years from

virtually nil to 45 million; the cutofffrequency of the fastest transistor had

multiplied three orders of magnitude

to 1.5 GHz [62], [63, p. 954]. Articles

covered the new frontier of com-

pound semiconductors, the problems

of noise in semiconductors, and the

theory and practice of power transis-

tors [64]–[67]. Back by popular re-quest was Esther Conwell, who

reprised and updated her 1952 article

[68]. There was no sign of integrated

circuitry or Bmicrominiaturization[;

that awaited reports on Diamond Ord-

nance Fuze Laboratories’ work and the

micro-module a year later5 [69]–[71].

By then much of PROCEEDINGS’attention had been subsumed into the

issues related to understanding and

traveling in the space around the

planet, rather than the microscale to-

pics of solid-state electronics. Well

before the American hysteria sur-

rounding the successful Soviet satel-

lites Sputnik I and II in fall 1957,

radio engineers had a long and prac-tical interest in the behavior of the

upper atmosphere and its effect on

radio-frequency (RF) signals that PRO-

CEEDINGS covered (for a brief review

of the 1950s space age, see [72]).

Guglielmo Marconi (Fig. 10) asserted

in 1922 that intercontinental radio

signals sometimes traveled by routeslonger than a great circle [73].

(Ballantine took issue with Marconi’s

claims [74]). With the success of Pro-

ject Diana’s moon-bounce radio signal

in 1946, some engineers posed the

moon as a cheaper reflector for long-

distance wireless communications

[75]. Searching for a means of com-municating with far north radar and

other military outposts, potentially

during a nuclear war, MIT’s Lincoln

Laboratories began researching tropo-

spheric scatter propagation in 1950,

which led to the discovery of the pos-

sibilities of ionospheric scatter prop-

agation. Such was the volume ofresearch in these fields that PROCEED-

INGS published a Special Issue on

Scatter Propagation in October 1955

[76], [77]. A BSpecial Section[ on

Meteor-Burst Communications fol-

lowed in December 1957, as the

Canadian and U.S. governments de-

classified research performed duringthe decade on this variable and low-

data rate communications alternative

[78], [79]. Interest in space in the

1950s also followed a more nakedly

military turn as Simon Ramo’s re-

cruitment pitch for guided missile

engineers in 1952 and corporate re-

cruiting advertisements later in thedecade indicated [80].

Overall, however, the journals’ ar-

ticles reflected unclassified and pop-

ular subjects. The IRE Symposium on

Planning Rocket and Satellite Studies

for the 1957–1958 International Geo-

physical Year filled three session halls

during the 1956 National Convention,leading to publication of the seven

papers in the June 1956 issue. These

included James Van Allen’s discussion

of the scientific value of the satel-

lite program, a justification that

redounded to his credit with the dis-

covery of the radiation belt named in

his honor [81], [82]. The first monthof 1958 featured a Special Issue on

4Sarnoff_s 1951 request quoted in Chapter 8of Kenyon Kilbon, Pioneering in Electronics,www.davidsarnoff.org/kil-chapter08.html.

5CledoBrunetti coined the term Bmicro-miniaturization at the IRE National Conventionin 1957.

Fig. 10. Guglielmo Marconi.

Fig. 9. John R. Pierce.

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Radio Astronomy; Correspondencein March featured four letters on

Sputnik signals, which followed on

two letters in November 1957 [83],

[84]. February 1959 marked PROCEED-

INGS’ Special Issue on the Ionosphere

and the IGY’s role in studying it; as

Lloyd Berkner observed, Bradio engi-

neering has provided the centralnervous system of the whole effort[[85], p. 133. The United States and

the USSR launched hundreds of

research rockets in the previous 18

months, and V. I. Krassovsky became

the first Russian published in the

PROCEEDINGS since 1934 with his

report on Sputnik III and its instru-ments [86]. He represented one of the

seven nations contributing to the

issue besides the United States, a

sign of the increasing internationali-

zation of contributors, as European

and Asian countries recovered from

war or imperialist rule.

In March 1958, Walter R. G. Bakerreceived the IRE Founders Award

[87]. President of the Electronic

Industries Association, former presi-

dent of the IRE, and retired vice

president of General Company, Baker

wrote an article on the future of

electronics [88]. He proposed that

the industry had undergone four erassince its proximate inception: radio,

1915–1943; radar, 1943–1946; tele-

vision, 1946–1950; and missile, 1950–

1956. In Baker’s view, the two military

periods rescued numerous companies

whose profit margins approached zero

in the effort to sell standardized home

entertainment technologies to in-creasingly jaded consumers. He noted

that despite the expansion of missile

technology into Bmore complex weap-

ons and weapons systems,[ the sub-

contractors of components may find

themselves suffering Bsevere attri-

tion[ as the leading companies conso-

lidate suppliers. What of the next era?Baker guessed that color and cable TV

would be important in home enter-

tainment and that Bnew materials,

techniques, and processes may result

in an entirely different line of compo-

nents.[ Disappointingly cautious, he

would only allow that Bthe computer,

data processing, and related applica-tions will be important[ while medical

electronics and Bultrasonics[ re-

mained Brelatively unexplored[ [88,

pp. 536–538].

Baker ignored efforts to flatten the

television display and record prog-

rams, as well as the move to standard-

ize stereophonic records.6 Whilemedical electronics and ultrasound

would enjoy their special issue debut

in November 1959 [95–97], his cau-

tion suggests little interest in the ef-

forts at integration of components at a

microscale, or in the prospects of glo-

bal communications via satellite or

multipath methods [98], [99]. Bakerinstead predicted that the next period,

which we may project into the 1960s,

Bwill have no predominating trait but

will comprise many important product

lines.[ He concluded that the electro-

nics industry could, besides working

in new fields, make older, Bhighly de-

veloped industries[ a little Bbetter orcheaper or faster.[ Baker was thinking

in particular of the electrical industry,

but for the merger of the professions,

much less the industries, we will

have to wait on the following decades

[88, p. 537 and 538]. h

ALEXANDER B.MAGOUN

Outreach HistorianIEEE History Center

REF ERENCE S

[1] E. B. May, ‘‘Anxiety and affluence:1945–1965,[ in A Documentary Historyof American Life. New York: McGraw-Hill,1966, vol. 8.

[2] A Report to the National SecurityCouncilVNSC-68, President’s Secretary’sFile, Truman Papers, Harry S. TrumanLibrary, p. 57, Apr. 12, 1950. [Online].Available: www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/coldwar/documents/pdf/10-1.pdf.

[3] IRE Directory, 1950, pp. 22. [Online].Available: www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/images/4/4c/IRE_Directory_1950.pdf.

[4] IRE Directory, 1959, pp. 3. [Online].Available: www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/images/1/10/IRE_Directory_1959.pdf.

[5] E. K. Gannett, BProceedings of the IEEE:The first 75 years,[ Proc. IEEE, vol. 76,no. 10, pp. 1271–1272, Oct. 1988.

[6] A. M. McMahon, The Making of a Profession:A Century of Electric Engineering inAmerica. New York: IEEE Press, 1984,pp. 216–217. [Online]. Available: www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/images/e/ee/The_Making_of_a_Profession.pdf.

[7] B. B. Bauer, BThe IRE Professional Groupsand the Institute,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 39, no. 11,pp. 1363, Nov. 1951.

[8] Television Facts and StatisticsV1939 to 2000.[Online]. Available: www.tvhistory.tv/facts-stats.htm.

[9] A. B. Magoun, Television: The Life Story ofa Technology. Baltimore, MD: Greenwood,2007, pp. 107.

[10] UNESCO, Statistics on Radio and Television,1950–1960, Paris, 1963, pp. 81–82. [Online].Available: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0003/000337/033739eo.pdf.

[11] H. E. Ives and A. L. Johnsrud, BTelevisionin colors by a beam scanning method,[ J. Opt.Soc. Amer., vol. 20, pp. 11ff, Jan. 1930.

[12] P. C. Goldmark, J. N. Dyer, E. R. Piore, andJ. M. Hollywood, BColor televisionVPart I,[Proc. IRE, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 162–182,Apr. 1942.

[13] P. C. Goldmark, E. R. Piore, J. M. Hollywood,T. H. Chambers, and J. J. Reeves, BColortelevisionVPart II,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 31, no. 9,pp. 465–478, Sep. 1943.

[14]AQ4 Proc. IRE, vol. 41, no. 6, Jan. 1953.

[15]AQ5 BThe UHF issue,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 41, no. 6,pp. 3, Jan. 1953.

[16] G. S. Wickizer, BField strength of KC2XAK,534.75 MC recorded at riverhead, N.Y.,[Proc. IRE, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 140–142,Jan. 1953.

[17] KPTV History 1952–2002. [Online]. Available:http://home.comcast.net/~kptv/history/history.htm.

[18] W. Boddy, Fifties Television: The Industryand its Critics. Champaign, IL: Univ.Illinois Press, 1992, pp. 53–56.

[19] R. J. Lindeman and C. E. Dean, BTunerfor complete UHF-TV coverage withoutmoving contacts,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 41, no. 1,pp. 67–72, Jan. 1953.

[20] BThe present status of color television,[Proc. IRE, vol. 38, no. 9, pp. 980–1002,Sep. 1950.

[21] A. V. Bedford, BMixed highs in colortelevision,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 38, no. 9,pp. 1003–1009, Sep. 1950.

[22] Proc. IRE, vol. 39, no. 10, Oct. 1951.

[23] BThe color-television issue,[ Proc. IRE,vol. 39, no. 10, pp. 1123, Oct. 1951.

[24] E. W. Herold, BMethods suitable fortelevision color kinescopes,[ Proc. IRE,vol. 39, no. 10, pp. 1177–1185, Oct. 1951.

[25] H. B. Law, BA three-gun shadow-maskcolor kinescope,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 39, no. 10,pp. 1186–1194, Oct. 1951.

[26] Proc. IRE, vol. 42, no. 1, Jan. 1954.

[27] BAcknowledgement,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 41,no. 10, pp. 1219, Oct. 1953.

6For efforts to make a flat-panel display,see, for example, [89]; and after Baker_s paper,[90] and [91]. See also the survey of flat-paneldisplays by Josephs [92]. For video recording,see [93]; for stereo disk records, see [94].

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[28] BThe computer issue,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 41,no. 10, pp. 1220, Oct. 1953.

[29] C. E. Shannon, BComputers and automata,[Proc. IRE, vol. 41, no. 10, pp. 1234–1241,Oct. 1953.

[30] G. M. Hopper and J. W. Mauchly, BInfluenceof programming techniques on the designof computers,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 41, no. 10,pp. 1250–1254, Oct. 1953.

[31] H. H. Goode, BSimulationVIts place insystem design,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 39, no. 12,pp. 1501–1506, Dec. 1951.

[32] H. E. Burke, BA survey of analog-to-digitalconverters,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 41, no. 10,pp. 1455–1462, Oct. 1953.

[33] H. J. GrayJr., P. V. Levonian, andM. Rubinoff, BAn analog-to-digital converterfor serial computing machines,[ Proc. IRE,vol. 41, no. 10, pp. 1462–1465, Oct. 1953.

[34] R. E. Spero, BEffectiveness of two-stepsmoothing in digital control computers,[Proc. IRE, vol. 41, no. 10, pp. 1465–1469,Oct. 1953.

[35] R. Serrell, BElements of boolean algebra forthe study of information-handling systems,[Proc. IRE, vol. 41, no. 10, pp. 1366–1380,Oct. 1953.

[36] W. H. Ware, BThe logical principles of a newkind of binary counter,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 41,no. 10, pp. 1429–1437, Oct. 1953.

[37] F. J. Gruenberger, The History of theJOHNNIAC, The Rand Corporation, Memo.RM-654-R, Oct. 1968, pp. v. [Online].Available: www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/2005/RM5654.pdf.

[38] W. Buchholz, BThe system design of theIBM type 701 computer,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 41,no. 10, pp. 1262–1275, Oct. 1953.

[39] C. E. Frizzell, BEngineering description ofthe IBM type 701 computer,[ Proc. IRE,vol. 41, no. 10, pp. 1375–1387, Oct. 1953.

[40] H. D. Ross, Jr., BThe arithmetic elementof the IBM type 701 computer,[ Proc. IRE,vol. 41, no. 10, pp. 1287–1294, Oct. 1953.

[41] Computer Pioneers: The Development ofthe IBM 701. [Online]. Available: www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Archives:The_Computer_Pioneers:_The_Development_of_the_IBM_701.

[42] J. P. Eckert, BA survey of digital computermemory systems,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 41, no. 10,pp. 1393–1406, Oct. 1953.

[43] J. A. Rajchman, BA myriabit magnetic-corematrix memory,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 41, no. 10,pp. 1407–1421, Oct. 1953.

[44] J. A. Rajchman and A. W. Lo, BThetransfluxor,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 44, no. 3,pp. 321–332, Mar. 1956.

[45] A. Wang, BMagnetic delay-line storage,[ Proc.IRE, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 401–407, Apr. 1951.

[46] S. F. Danko, BPrinted circuits andmicroelectronics,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 50,no. 5, pp. 937–938, May 1962.

[47] R. L. Henry, R. K.-F. Scal, and G. Shapiro,BNew techniques for electronicminiaturization,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 38, no. 10,pp. 1139–1144, Oct. 1950.

[48] B. G. Broomberg and R. D. Hill, Jr.,BReliability of airborne electroniccomponents,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 41, no. 4,pp. 513–515, Apr. 1953.

[49] BVacuum tubes: Building blocks ofelectronics,[ RCA Electron. Age, pp. 29,Winter 1958–1959.

[50] BThe transistor issue,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 40,no. 11, pp. 1283, Nov. 1952.

[51] W. Shockley, BTransistor electronics:Imperfections, unipolar and analog

transistors,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 40, no. 11,pp. 1289–1313, Nov. 1952.

[52] W. Shockley, BA unipolar ‘field-effect’transistor,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 40, no. 11,pp. 1365–1376, Nov. 1952.

[53] E. M. Conwell, BProperties of silicon andgermanium,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 40, no. 11,pp. 1327–1337, Nov. 1952.

[54] G. C. Sziklai, BSymmetrical properties oftransistors and their applications,[ Proc. IRE,vol. 41, no. 6, pp. 717–724, Jun. 1953.

[55] P. W. Cooper, BThe U.S. Army signal corps’FDick Tracy_ transistor wrist radio (1953),[Proc. IEEE, vol. 86, no. 1, pp. 163–169,Jan. 1998.

[56] Texas Instruments and IDEA’s RegencyDivision. [Online]. Available: www.ti.com/corp/docs/company/history/timeline/semicon/1950/docs/54regency.htm;http://people.msoe.edu/~reyer/regency/NYT10-18-54-p35.jpg.

[57] G. C. Sziklai, R. D. Lohman, andG. B. Herzog, BA study of transistor circuitsfor television,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 39, no. 12,pp. 708–717, Dec. 1951.

[58] A. B. Magoun, David Sarnoff ResearchCenter: RCA Labs to Sarnoff Corporation.Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2003, pp. 58–59.

[59] BSolid-state electronics,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 43,no. 12, pp. 1701, Dec. 1955.

[60] A. Rose, BPerformance of photoconductors,[Proc. IRE, vol. 43, no. 12, pp. 1850–1869,Dec. 1955.

[61] B. Kazan and F. H. Nicoll, BAnelectroluminescent light-amplifyingpicture panel,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 43, no. 12,pp. 1888–1897, Dec. 1955.

[62] BPoles and zeros,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 46, no. 6,pp. 947, Jun. 1958.

[63] W. Shockley, BAn invited essay ontransistor business,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 46,no. 6, pp. 954–955, Jun. 1958.

[64] D. A. Jenny, BThe status of transistorresearch in compound semiconductors,[Proc. IRE, vol. 46, no. 6, pp. 959–968,Jun. 1958.

[65] K. M. van Vliet, BNoise in semiconductorsand photoconductors,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 46,no. 6, pp. 1004–1038, Jun. 1958.

[66] M. A. Clark, BPower transistors,[ Proc. IRE,vol. 46, no. 6, pp. 1185–1204, Jun. 1958.

[67] J. T. Nelson, J. E. Iwersen, and F. Keywell,BA five-watt ten-megacycle transistor,[ Proc.IRE, vol. 46, no. 6, pp. 1209–1215, Jun. 1958.

[68] E. M. Conwell, BProperties of silicon andgermanium: II,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 46, no. 6,pp. 1281–1300, Jun. 1958.

[69] T. A. Prugh, J. R. Nall, and N. J. Doctor, BTheDOFL microelectronics program,[ Proc. IRE,vol. 47, no. 5, pp. 882–894, May 1959.

[70] S. F. Danko, W. L. Doxey, and J. P. Macnaul,BThe micro-module: A logical approach tomicrominiaturization,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 47,no. 5, pp. 894–903, May 1959.

[71] C. Brunetti, BA new venture inmicrominiaturization,[ in IRE Nat.Conv. Record, pt. 6, pp. 3–6.

[72] R. D. Launius, Sputnik and the Origins of theSpace Age. [Online]. Available: http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/sputorig.html.

[73] G. Marconi, BRadio telegraphy,[ Proc. IRE,vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 222–223, Apr. 1922.

[74] S. Ballantine, BDiscussion on Fradiotelegraphy_ by G. Marconi,[ Proc. IRE,vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 399–400, May 1922.

[75] D. D. Grieg, S. Metzger, and R. Waer,BConsiderations of moon-relay

communication,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 36,no. 5, pp. 652–663, May 1948.

[76] Lincoln Laboratory/About/History/EarlyWarning Radars. [Online]. Available:www.ll.mit.edu/about/History/earlywarningradars.html.

[77] K. A. Norton and J. B. Wiesner, BThe scatterpropagation issue,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 43, no. 10,pp. 1174, Oct. 1955.

[78] BPoles and zeros,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 45, no. 12,pp. 1585, Dec. 1957.

[79] J. A. Hoff, BThe utility of meteor burstcommunications,[ in Proc. IEEE MilitaryCommun. Conf., 1988, pp. 565–570.

[80] S. Ramo, BGuided missilesVA new fieldfor the radio engineer,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 40,no. 1, pp. 3, Jan. 1952.

[81] BSymposium on the U.S. Earth satelliteprogramVVanguard of outer space,[ Proc.IRE, vol. 44, no. 6, pp. 741, Jun. 1956.

[82] J. A. Van Allen, BThe scientific value of theearth satellite program,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 44,no. 6, pp. 764–767, Jun. 1956.

[83] BCorrespondence,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 46, no. 3,pp. 610–614, Mar. 1958.

[84] BCorrespondence,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 45, no. 11,pp. 1552–1555, Nov. 1957.

[85] L. V. Berkner, BThe internationalgeophysical year,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 47, no. 2,pp. 133–136, Feb. 1959.

[86] V. I. Krassovsky, BExploration of the upperatmosphere with the help of the ThirdSoviet Sputnik,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 47, no. 2,pp. 289–296, Feb. 1959.

[87] BW. R. G. Baker: Winner of the 1958founders award,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 46, no. 3,pp. 532, Mar. 1958.

[88] W. R. G. Baker, BElectronics: What’s comingafter the missile age?[ Proc. IRE, vol. 46,no. 3, pp. 534–538, Mar. 1958.

[89] W. R. Aiken, BA thin cathode-ray tube,[Proc. IRE, vol. 45, no. 12, pp. 1599–1604,Dec. 1957.

[90] E. A. Sack, BELFVA new electroluminescentdisplay,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 46, no. 10,pp. 1694–1699, Oct. 1958.

[91] J. A. Rajchman, G. R. Briggs, and A. W. Lo,BTransfluxor-controlled electroluminescentdisplay,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 46, no. 11,pp. 1808–1824, Nov. 1958.

[92] J. J. Josephs, BA review of panel-typedisplay devices,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 48, no. 8,pp. 1380–1395, Aug. 1959.

[93] C. P. Ginzburg, BAchievement of practicaltape speed for recording video signals,[ IRETrans. Broadcast Transm. Syst., vol. PGBTS-8,no. 1, pp. 25–291957.

[94] C. C. Davis and J. G. Frayne, BThe Westrexstereo disk system,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 46, no. 10,pp. 1686–1693, Oct. 1958.

[95] Proc. IRE, vol. 47, no. 11, Nov. 1959.

[96] J. M. Reid, BMedical ultrasonics: Diagnosticapplications of ultrasound,[ Proc. IRE,vol. 47, no. 11, pp. 1963–1967, Nov. 1959.

[97] J. F. Herrick, BMedical ultrasonics:Applications of ultrasound to biologicmeasurements,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 47, no. 11,pp. 1967–1970, Nov. 1959.

[98] J. R. Pierce and R. Kompfner, BTransoceaniccommunication by means of satellites,[Proc. IRE, vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 372–380,Mar. 1959.

[99] R. Price and P. E. Green, Jr., BAcommunication technique for multipathchannels,[ Proc. IRE, vol. 46, no. 3,pp. 555–570, Mar. 1958.

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