--- title: "When and who invented the Transistor?" description: "When and who invented the Transistor?" author: "Cox elliott" published: 2018-08-30 canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/49208/when-and-who-invented-the-transistor category: "innovation, discovery and technology" tags: ["innovation, discovery and technology"] reading_time: 2 minutes --- # When and who invented the Transistor? When and who invented the Transistor? ## Answers ### Answer by Harshal Vispute A **transistor** is a **semiconductor device** that is used to **amplify** or **switch electrical** impulses. The transistor is a fundamental component of modern electronics. It is typically made of **semiconductor material** and has at least three terminals for connecting to an electronic circuit. The current through another pair of terminals is controlled by a voltage or current applied to one pair of transistor terminals. \ A transistor can magnify a signal because the controlled power is greater than the controlling power. Although some transistors are packed separately, the majority are completely immersed in integrated circuits. \ The **thermionic triode**, a **vacuum tube** created in **1907**, paved the way for amplified radio and long-distance **telephone**. The triode, on the other hand, was a delicate gadget that drank a lot of power. The crystal diode oscillator was invented by **physicist William Eccles** in **1909**. \ ![When and who invented the Transistor?](https://answers.mindstick.com/QuestionAnswer/53728915-232f-4e80-804f-f52389ede87f/images/d24c98ff-9076-4c5d-b679-08753542593d.jpeg)\ \ **Julius Edgar Lilienfeld**, an **Austro-Hungarian physicist**, submitted a patent in **[Canada](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/94184/canada-cup-belongs-to-which-sports)** in **1925** for a field-effect transistor, which was meant to be a solid-state successor for the triode. In **1926** and **1928**, Lilienfeld filed identical patents in the **[United States](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/92993/why-the-united-states-is-the-only-superpower)**. \ **Lilienfeld** didn't publish any research papers regarding his inventions, and his patents didn't include any samples of a working prototype. Even if Lilienfeld's solid-state amplifier concepts had been realized, they would not have found practical use in the **1920s** and **1930s** since high-quality semiconductor materials were still decades away. **Oskar Heil**, a **German** inventor, patented a similar device in **Europe** in **1934**. --- Original Source: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/49208/when-and-who-invented-the-transistor Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.