Articles about the origins of knowledge, science, and technology
The strange properties of silver sulfide that Faraday observed in 1833 led, a century later, to the transistor at Bell Labs. Along the way came a jealousy-driven genius, eight rebels, and two engineers who independently invented the integrated circuit without ever meeting. This is the story of semiconductors.
In 1907, a 150-word letter about a glowing silicon carbide crystal set off a chain of discoveries that would take 86 years to complete. This is the story of how electroluminescence became the LED — from Losev's overlooked research in Soviet Russia to Holonyak's first red LED, and the stubborn pursuit of blue that finally unlocked white light.
In 1940, what saved Britain was not its planes but a row of steel towers along the coast. From the wolf-dung smoke of ancient beacon towers to concrete acoustic mirrors, radar, sonar, infrared, and LiDAR — this is the history of detection technologies forged by the urgency to see the enemy first.
After the cathode ray tube dominated screens for nearly a century, a revolution began. Discover how LCD, plasma, and OLED technologies competed to replace the bulky CRT, and which technologies thrived while others faded away in our quest for thinner, brighter, more efficient displays.
In 1897, Karl Ferdinand Braun bent a stream of electrons with a magnet and created a glowing dot on a fluorescent screen — the origin of a technology that would define how humanity consumed images for over a century. This article traces the CRT's journey from cathode ray physics to television's golden age, color displays, computer monitors, and its surprising second life in retro gaming culture.