Origins of Silicon Valley - Roots in Ham Radio
Paul Wesling (KM6LH) will present February 23, 2024 at the California Historical Radio Society (CHRS) and online via Zoom. In-person registration may be found here, while registration for the Zoom link is here.
Summary: Why did Silicon Valley come into being? The story goes back to local Hams (amateur radio operators) trying to break RCA’s tube patents, “angel” investors, the sinking of the Titanic, Fred Terman and Stanford University, local invention of high-power tubes, WW II and radar, William Shockley’s mother living in Palo Alto, and the SF Bay Area infrastructure that developed – these factors pretty much determined that the semiconductor and IC industries would be located in California’s Santa Clara Valley, and that the Valley would remain the world’s innovation center as new technologies emerged – computers, then software, mobile, biotech, Big Data, VR/AR, autonomous vehicles, blockchain, and now generative AI – and it would become the model for innovation worldwide.
A previous version of the presentation from 2023 may be viewed here.
Source: California Historical Radio Society open_in_new
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