ABSTRACT
The invention of the transistor in 1947 marked the beginning of an unprecedented revolution that affected human activities at every level. In those days, the entertainment center for an average home was a vacuum-tube radio. It was necessary to wait several minutes for warm-up (and miss what was being broadcast) after it was switched on. The transistor radio changed that because it could be turned on instantly. For folks experiencing this change during the 1950s, this was magic. More important, because of its smaller size and low power consumption, a transistor radio could be powered by batteries and was easily portable — beach parties could not possibly have happened without these transistor radios.
