David Morton

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Electronics is the first book of its kind—a comprehensive account of the history of one of the late 20th century's greatest technologies—the field of electron devices. Some of these devices, the laser and the microchip for example, have become household words, but their origins and operation are largely unknown to the general public. Other devices that form the heart of important electronic systems are virtually unknown outside the field of engineering. Electronics is the first book to survey the histories of all these devices, showing how they relate to each other and to the world we live in. This work will be accessible to those without a technical background, but is precise enough for an engineer. The development of electronic devices was central to many of the most important historical events of the last 50 years, such as the introduction of television, Cold War, the Space Race, the rise of Asian semiconductor manufacturers, and the emergence of the surveillance society—this book explores them all. In addition, Electronics examines the fascinating stories of how scientists and engineers created these devices in the first place: One organization, the Bell Telephone Laboratories, was responsible for either the invention or, perhaps more importantly, the commercialization of many of the most important advances in the field. The book explains the origins and impact of a series of now-familiar technologies, including the Magnetron tube used to power microwave ovens, the CRT (television and computer display), the laser, the first integrated circuit, the microprocessor, and memory chips. The transistor—a single invention created to solve a specific engineering problem—was taken up by numerous researchers and transformed a technology—the so-called semiconductor devices—with an astonishing breadth of applications and a nearly ubiquitous presence. The book includes a timeline and a bibliography for those interested in learning more about the history of electron devices.

How did one of the great inventions of the 19th century— Thomas Edison's phonograph— eventually lead to one of the most culturally and economically significant technologies of the 20th and 21st centuries? Sound Recording tells that story, tracing the history of the business boom and the cultural revolution begun by Edison's invention. Ever since, recorded sound has been all around us—not just in reproducing and playing popular music, but also in more mundane areas, such as office dictation machines, radio and television programs, and even telephone answering machines. Just as the styles of music have evolved over the years, the formats on which this music was played have changed as well —from 78s to LPs, from LPs to cassette tapes, from cassettes to CDs—not to mention lesser-known innovations in the motion picture and television industries. The quest for better sound was one of the drivers of technological change, but so too were business strategies, patent battles, and a host of other factors. Sound Recording contains much information that will interest anyone interested in the history of recorded music and sound technology, such as: • The world-famous composer John Phillip Sousa once denounced sound recordings as a threat to good musical tasted. He nonetheless made many recordings over the years • Two innovative new products were introduced by RCA in 1958—the first modern cassette tape cartridge and the stereophonic LP record. The tape cartridge, which was about the size of a large paperback, flopped almost immediately; the stereo LP was the music industry's biggest hit ever• Chrysler automobiles of the late 1950s offered Highway Hi-Fi, a dashboard phonograph that could play a record without skipping• The predecessor of the Compact Disc was a 12-inch home videodisc system from the late 1970s—the first of its kind—called DiscoVision The volume includes a timeline and a bibliography for those interested in delving further into the history of recorded sound.

David L. Morton examines the process of invention, innovation, and diffusion of communications technology, using the history of sound recording as the focus. Off the Record demonstrates how the history of both the hardware and the ways people used it is essential for understanding why any particular technology became a fixture in everyday life or faded into obscurity. Morton’s approach to the topic differs from most previous works, which have examined the technology’s social impact, but not the reasons for its existence. Recording culture in America emerged, Morton writes, not through the dictates of the technology itself but in complex ways that were contingent upon the actions of users. Each of the case studies in the book emphasizes one of five aspects of the culture of recording and its relationship to new technology, at the same time telling the story of sound recording history. One of the misconceptions that Morton hopes to dispel is that the only important category of sound recording involves music. Unique in his broad-based approach to sound technology, the five case studies that Morton investigates are : The phonograph recordRecording in the radio businessThe dictation machineThe telephone answering machine, andHome tapingReaders will learn, for example, that the equipment to create the telephone answering machine has been around for a century, but that the ownership and use of answering machines was a hotly contested issue in the telephone industry at the turn of the century, hence stifling its commercial development for decades. Morton also offers fascinating insight into early radio: that, while The Amos and Andy Show initially was pre-recorded and not broadcast live, the commercial stations saw this easily distributed program as an economic threat: many non-network stations could buy the disks for easy, relatively inexpensive replaying. As a result, Amos and Andy was sold to Mutual and went live shortly afterward.

Use this atlas of more than 600 full-color photos and micrographs in your biology lab sections--and recall later what you saw. Cover up the photo labels for an effective study and review tool.