Science: Problem Child

The germanium transistor, now five years old, has reached a ripe, mature age as electronic gadgets grow. But, asked the Philco Corp.’s Director of Research Donald G. Fink, “Is it a pimpled adolescent, now awkward, but promising future vigor? Or has it arrived at maturity, full of languor, surrounded by disappointments?”

Most experts (Fink included) were at first convinced that the transistor was a prodigy. In time, they predicted, it would do anything as well as a vacuum tube. The experts were wrong, says Fink. When the first transistors were built, no one worried about moisture, and moisture has turned out to be a virulent poison. Now the experts are recommending “encapsulation” (a fancy word for careful packaging). Electronic engineers have also discovered that tiny wires break away from germanium crystals for no apparent reason, even when transistors are resting quietly in cotton wool. Worse still, the carefully processed germanium has been known to “turn over in its sleep” and suddenly act up, like a rebellious child.

Here and there, the transistor is doing a job, e.g., in telephone exchanges and hearing aids. But like many another infant prodigy, it is stumbling and stammering badly on the awkward edge of adolescence. Still, neither Fink nor other scientists have lost all hope. Sobered by their own mistakes, the transistor’s parents are busy turning the problem child into a responsible citizen.