Slide 1

TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES FROM THE CHEMIST’S VIEW
II. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Innovations in chemistry, engineering, and
electronics from the end of the nineteenth century
until today have helped us to keep contact at any
site of the world.
The lifestyle of the humanity has been radically
changed in the last century, from rural to urban life,
from education for the elite to education for the
masses, from agriculture to research work. The
subsequent flow of people, information, new ideas,
and materials has brought significant social change.
Numerous results of chemistry have contributed to
the development of many communication tools that
we need in order to capture, store, and distribute
information. Wireless communications and fiber
optics serve our internet society. Silicon chemistry
and high-performance polymers make today’s
computer microprocessors possible. Movies,
television, and photography all rely on chemistry to
help preserve our memories.
Scientific achievements of chemists contribute to
keep contact by remote family members with each
other.

Chronology
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Wireless communications
Facsimile technology and xerography
Laser and fiber optics
II. 2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Semiconductor technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
Monitor and display technologies
Information storage
Communications satellites
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
Television
Photography
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Transistors

Technology Milestones in Information and Communications
Chronology

1876 Alexander Graham Bell completes the first telephone call.
1926 The Warner brothers make the first movie to synchronize music and audio effects.
1926 The first two-way voice conversation is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts first television image using a cathode ray tube.
1946 ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, is put into operation. Since 1944 the Hungarian-born John von Neumann took
part in the modification of some mathematical-logical details of ENIAC.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1955 Reynold Johnson develops the first disk drive.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1961 Silicon chips first appear.

1961 Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite, is sent into orbit.
1961 The firm Eastman Kodak introduces the popular Instamatic camera with film cartridge.
1971 Intel company introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor for consumer use.
1977 Town Chicago tests the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.
1983 Cellular phones become popular after the automatic switching of wireless communications through a series of cells was
discovered.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc-read-only memory) is introduced along with its companion compact disc (CD) player.

II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone

Since Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876,
it has become a cornerstone of
modern life by offering nearly
instant connections around the
world. The first two-way voice
conversation was transmitted
across the Atlantic Ocean in
1926,
and
commercial
telephone service (using radio)
began between New York and
London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service
in 1935. Transoceanic phone
service was eventually handled
by submarine cables in 1956
and since 1962 communications
satellites. Today’s chemical
engineers have brought us from
copper wire to fiber optics, from
switchboards to satellites, and
from party lines to the Internet.

A. Graham Bell

II. 1. Communications Advances
Wireless communications

Cellular phones and pagers depend on
printed and integrated circuits, advanced
materials, and miniaturization techniques
enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs
developed mobile car telephones in the
1940s, but they were unpopular due to a
lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when
wireless communications were divided
into a series of cells that automatically
switched callers as they moved so that
each cell could be reused. Cellular phones
quickly became popular. Chemistry has
also played a role in the development of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in
cellular phones.

Switchboard

II. 1. Communications Advances
Facsimile technology and xerography

Although Arthur Korn, the German
inventor transmitted first pictures
electronically in 1902, the first
functioning fax machine debuted in
1924 that adapted telephone circuits
for
picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into
electrical signals that indicated the
shades of the image. This data was
transmitted by telephone onto a
receiving sheet of photographic
negative film and then developed in a
darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced to allow an
exact replication of an image to be
made. Chemical innovations in
facsimile technology include new
toners and inks, advanced paper
technology, and organic photoreceptor
technology in the 1970s.

Telephotography

II. 1. Communications Advances
Laser and fiber optics

Pure glass fibers now provide the infrastructure
to carry information via laser-produced light in a
revolutionary technical achievement. Chemical
researchers invented the first optical fiber in
1970. Once fiber optics were fabricated and
installed as integrated components. The first
lightwave system was installed in 1977 to
provide voice, data, and video service over a
network. Today, a single fiber-optic cable can
transmit millions of phone calls, data files, and
video images.

Installation fiber optics in
Chicago downtown (1977)

II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers

Chemical engineering has fueled the computing
revolution and continues to make computers faster,
powerful, and affordable. In 1939, the first electronic
computer is invented at Iowa State University.
Programmable calculators with binary numbers and
Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In 1946,
ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, goes into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuts in 1962. By
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4bit microprocessor for consumer use and the personal
computer market exploded. Today’s innovations continue
with transistors, silicon chips, integrated components,
data storage devices, and advanced materials.

John von Neumann and the
ENIAC

II.2. Computer Technology
Semiconductor technology

Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s
computers, appliances, and communication devices.
Semiconductors, opposite to metals, are a class of
materials that increase their conductivity by elevated
temperatures. These semiconductors are further
treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made
from semiconductors materials. Semiconductors
enable electronic components to be smaller, faster,
and more energy-efficient. Chemists in the
semiconductor industry provide quality control of
components,
optimization
processes,
troubleshooting, and innovations to microelectronic
devices.

A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)

An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)

II.2. Computer Technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits

In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William
Shockley, and Walter Brattain demonstrated
that the flow of electricity through silicon could
be selectively controlled. The subsequent
creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors enable today’s high-speed,
efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961) consist
of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and memory
chips built in layers on silicon wafers, then
exposed to a multi-step chemical process. In
1967, the first hand-held calculator is made
using an integrated circuit, a small electronic
device containing many transistors and other
electronic components. In the 1980s, integrated
circuits are applied to computers.

Silicon chip

The first
integrated circuit

II.2. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies

Dramatic improvements have been made
in computer display technology in recent
years. High-resolution color graphics
screens are mainly based on the
television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen
displays for laptop and notebook
computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD)
based on organic chemicals were invented
in 1969. Today’s subsequent development
is a thin-film transistors liquid crystal
display in which each picture elements is
driven by its own individual transistors.
Chemists have developed liquid crystal
materials, color filters, polymer alignment
layers, molded-plastic light distribution
sheets, and plasma display technology.
Camera Obscura

II.2. Computer Technology
Information storage

Information must be recorded so that it can be
retrieved at a later time if it is to be used and
manipulated fully. Chemistry innovations have
ensured that the media for such recordings has
remained
high-quality,
easy-to-use,
and
inexpensive.
Breakthroughs
in
recording
capabilities (higher resolution, faster speed, and
color), photographic films, magnetic audio
recordings, and digital imaging have also
brought advances in recording devices. In 1955,
Reynold Johnson, an American inventor and
computer pioneer developed the first disk drive
to store computerized data. Many subsequent
advances were made, especially with computer
disks, magnetic tapes, and CD-ROMs (1984).
Early disk drive

II.2. Computer Technology
Communications satellites

Until the 1960s, voice communications
between North America and other continents
were very expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the
world’s first active communications satellite,
was sent into orbit. Chemistry enhanced the
structural materials (metal alloys, plastic, and
other advanced materials), computer and
electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these
satellites. Communications satellites played
a major role in expanding both international
and domestic long distance calling and
television transmission until the 1990s.
Today, communications satellites play an
increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite
dishes with digital television.

Telstar

Manufacturing of
GPS satellites
GPS satellites on
orbit

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies

In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first
feature-length movie to synchronize
singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s,
processes of the firm Technicolor had
been refined and the first color features
were a big draw. The chemistry of film
required a series of breakthroughs
involving
basic
materials,
different
chemical solutions, and exposure to light.

The showbill of the first feature-length
movie, The Jazz Singer, with
synchronized singing and dialogue

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Television

The Scotman John Logie Baird
displayed television publicly for the first
time in London, 1926, using mechanical
television system, the Nipkow disc,
patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth
transmitted
the
first
television image using cathode ray tube
(invented in 1897). The next twenty
years was the era of the vacuum tube in
electronics, and chemistry contributed
the unique materials for electrodes and
control elements within the tube. By the
1950s, many innovations were made,
including the integrated circuit in 1958.
The following decades brought solidstate imaging devices, miniaturization,
and varied electronic improvements.

The Nipkow disc and its inventor Paul Nipkow

Philo T. Farnsworth and
the cathode ray tube

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Photography

Photography
and
films
technology enables us to record
the most important experiences
and people in our lives.
Chemistry developed the film for
all types of cameras with
breakthroughs involving basic
materials, different chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
Battery improvements have also
contributed to the popularity of
the camera, including the 1950s
alkaline manganese batteries
that were tremendously popular
in small cameras with built-in
flash unit. Being able to
manipulate film, electronics, and
batteries led to the 1963
introduction of Eastman Kodak’s
popular Instamatic camera with
film cartridge that was sold over
50 millions by 1970.

Kodak-Instamatic

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics

Electronic materials and microelectronic devices
are the heart of countless modern products,
such as CD players, televisions, computers, and
wireless devices. From vacuum tubes to
transistors to integrated circuits, chemical
engineers have made electronics smaller, more
powerful, energy-efficient, and cheaper. New
materials, processes for producing highly
purified materials, and processes for building
semiconductors have resulted in components,
such as transistors and integrated circuits, which
can be assembled into complex electronic
circuitry to provide new capabilities to a wide
range of electronic devices.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Advanced synthetic materials

Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and
personal computers rely on though, durable,
non-conducting plastics to protect sensitive
electronic components. Plastics are essential
in electronic applications because of their
insulating properties; the flow of electrons
that make up electrical currents cannot
readily
penetrate
plastics’
molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of
molecules and creating new ones, chemists
and engineers are producing new materials
that are both strong and flexible. These
advances have improved impact resistance,
reduced the total weight of equipment, and
reduced the cost of consumer goods.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Transistors

It was the tiny, reliable electronic
component called a transistor that
enabled the marriage of computers
and communication more than any
other single development. In 1947,
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William
Shockley
invented
the
transistor, and it gradually replaced the
bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had
been amplifying and switching signals.
The transistor and the subsequent
integrated circuits (that contains
millions of transistors) served as the
foundation for the development of
modern electronics. By 1954, the
wildly popular transistor radio was
introduced, and by 1958, an American
electrical engineer, Seymour Cray
developed a transistorized computer.

The first transistor
The inventors of
transistor


Slide 2

TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES FROM THE CHEMIST’S VIEW
II. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Innovations in chemistry, engineering, and
electronics from the end of the nineteenth century
until today have helped us to keep contact at any
site of the world.
The lifestyle of the humanity has been radically
changed in the last century, from rural to urban life,
from education for the elite to education for the
masses, from agriculture to research work. The
subsequent flow of people, information, new ideas,
and materials has brought significant social change.
Numerous results of chemistry have contributed to
the development of many communication tools that
we need in order to capture, store, and distribute
information. Wireless communications and fiber
optics serve our internet society. Silicon chemistry
and high-performance polymers make today’s
computer microprocessors possible. Movies,
television, and photography all rely on chemistry to
help preserve our memories.
Scientific achievements of chemists contribute to
keep contact by remote family members with each
other.

Chronology
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Wireless communications
Facsimile technology and xerography
Laser and fiber optics
II. 2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Semiconductor technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
Monitor and display technologies
Information storage
Communications satellites
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
Television
Photography
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Transistors

Technology Milestones in Information and Communications
Chronology

1876 Alexander Graham Bell completes the first telephone call.
1926 The Warner brothers make the first movie to synchronize music and audio effects.
1926 The first two-way voice conversation is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts first television image using a cathode ray tube.
1946 ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, is put into operation. Since 1944 the Hungarian-born John von Neumann took
part in the modification of some mathematical-logical details of ENIAC.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1955 Reynold Johnson develops the first disk drive.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1961 Silicon chips first appear.

1961 Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite, is sent into orbit.
1961 The firm Eastman Kodak introduces the popular Instamatic camera with film cartridge.
1971 Intel company introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor for consumer use.
1977 Town Chicago tests the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.
1983 Cellular phones become popular after the automatic switching of wireless communications through a series of cells was
discovered.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc-read-only memory) is introduced along with its companion compact disc (CD) player.

II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone

Since Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876,
it has become a cornerstone of
modern life by offering nearly
instant connections around the
world. The first two-way voice
conversation was transmitted
across the Atlantic Ocean in
1926,
and
commercial
telephone service (using radio)
began between New York and
London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service
in 1935. Transoceanic phone
service was eventually handled
by submarine cables in 1956
and since 1962 communications
satellites. Today’s chemical
engineers have brought us from
copper wire to fiber optics, from
switchboards to satellites, and
from party lines to the Internet.

A. Graham Bell

II. 1. Communications Advances
Wireless communications

Cellular phones and pagers depend on
printed and integrated circuits, advanced
materials, and miniaturization techniques
enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs
developed mobile car telephones in the
1940s, but they were unpopular due to a
lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when
wireless communications were divided
into a series of cells that automatically
switched callers as they moved so that
each cell could be reused. Cellular phones
quickly became popular. Chemistry has
also played a role in the development of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in
cellular phones.

Switchboard

II. 1. Communications Advances
Facsimile technology and xerography

Although Arthur Korn, the German
inventor transmitted first pictures
electronically in 1902, the first
functioning fax machine debuted in
1924 that adapted telephone circuits
for
picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into
electrical signals that indicated the
shades of the image. This data was
transmitted by telephone onto a
receiving sheet of photographic
negative film and then developed in a
darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced to allow an
exact replication of an image to be
made. Chemical innovations in
facsimile technology include new
toners and inks, advanced paper
technology, and organic photoreceptor
technology in the 1970s.

Telephotography

II. 1. Communications Advances
Laser and fiber optics

Pure glass fibers now provide the infrastructure
to carry information via laser-produced light in a
revolutionary technical achievement. Chemical
researchers invented the first optical fiber in
1970. Once fiber optics were fabricated and
installed as integrated components. The first
lightwave system was installed in 1977 to
provide voice, data, and video service over a
network. Today, a single fiber-optic cable can
transmit millions of phone calls, data files, and
video images.

Installation fiber optics in
Chicago downtown (1977)

II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers

Chemical engineering has fueled the computing
revolution and continues to make computers faster,
powerful, and affordable. In 1939, the first electronic
computer is invented at Iowa State University.
Programmable calculators with binary numbers and
Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In 1946,
ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, goes into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuts in 1962. By
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4bit microprocessor for consumer use and the personal
computer market exploded. Today’s innovations continue
with transistors, silicon chips, integrated components,
data storage devices, and advanced materials.

John von Neumann and the
ENIAC

II.2. Computer Technology
Semiconductor technology

Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s
computers, appliances, and communication devices.
Semiconductors, opposite to metals, are a class of
materials that increase their conductivity by elevated
temperatures. These semiconductors are further
treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made
from semiconductors materials. Semiconductors
enable electronic components to be smaller, faster,
and more energy-efficient. Chemists in the
semiconductor industry provide quality control of
components,
optimization
processes,
troubleshooting, and innovations to microelectronic
devices.

A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)

An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)

II.2. Computer Technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits

In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William
Shockley, and Walter Brattain demonstrated
that the flow of electricity through silicon could
be selectively controlled. The subsequent
creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors enable today’s high-speed,
efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961) consist
of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and memory
chips built in layers on silicon wafers, then
exposed to a multi-step chemical process. In
1967, the first hand-held calculator is made
using an integrated circuit, a small electronic
device containing many transistors and other
electronic components. In the 1980s, integrated
circuits are applied to computers.

Silicon chip

The first
integrated circuit

II.2. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies

Dramatic improvements have been made
in computer display technology in recent
years. High-resolution color graphics
screens are mainly based on the
television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen
displays for laptop and notebook
computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD)
based on organic chemicals were invented
in 1969. Today’s subsequent development
is a thin-film transistors liquid crystal
display in which each picture elements is
driven by its own individual transistors.
Chemists have developed liquid crystal
materials, color filters, polymer alignment
layers, molded-plastic light distribution
sheets, and plasma display technology.
Camera Obscura

II.2. Computer Technology
Information storage

Information must be recorded so that it can be
retrieved at a later time if it is to be used and
manipulated fully. Chemistry innovations have
ensured that the media for such recordings has
remained
high-quality,
easy-to-use,
and
inexpensive.
Breakthroughs
in
recording
capabilities (higher resolution, faster speed, and
color), photographic films, magnetic audio
recordings, and digital imaging have also
brought advances in recording devices. In 1955,
Reynold Johnson, an American inventor and
computer pioneer developed the first disk drive
to store computerized data. Many subsequent
advances were made, especially with computer
disks, magnetic tapes, and CD-ROMs (1984).
Early disk drive

II.2. Computer Technology
Communications satellites

Until the 1960s, voice communications
between North America and other continents
were very expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the
world’s first active communications satellite,
was sent into orbit. Chemistry enhanced the
structural materials (metal alloys, plastic, and
other advanced materials), computer and
electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these
satellites. Communications satellites played
a major role in expanding both international
and domestic long distance calling and
television transmission until the 1990s.
Today, communications satellites play an
increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite
dishes with digital television.

Telstar

Manufacturing of
GPS satellites
GPS satellites on
orbit

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies

In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first
feature-length movie to synchronize
singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s,
processes of the firm Technicolor had
been refined and the first color features
were a big draw. The chemistry of film
required a series of breakthroughs
involving
basic
materials,
different
chemical solutions, and exposure to light.

The showbill of the first feature-length
movie, The Jazz Singer, with
synchronized singing and dialogue

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Television

The Scotman John Logie Baird
displayed television publicly for the first
time in London, 1926, using mechanical
television system, the Nipkow disc,
patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth
transmitted
the
first
television image using cathode ray tube
(invented in 1897). The next twenty
years was the era of the vacuum tube in
electronics, and chemistry contributed
the unique materials for electrodes and
control elements within the tube. By the
1950s, many innovations were made,
including the integrated circuit in 1958.
The following decades brought solidstate imaging devices, miniaturization,
and varied electronic improvements.

The Nipkow disc and its inventor Paul Nipkow

Philo T. Farnsworth and
the cathode ray tube

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Photography

Photography
and
films
technology enables us to record
the most important experiences
and people in our lives.
Chemistry developed the film for
all types of cameras with
breakthroughs involving basic
materials, different chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
Battery improvements have also
contributed to the popularity of
the camera, including the 1950s
alkaline manganese batteries
that were tremendously popular
in small cameras with built-in
flash unit. Being able to
manipulate film, electronics, and
batteries led to the 1963
introduction of Eastman Kodak’s
popular Instamatic camera with
film cartridge that was sold over
50 millions by 1970.

Kodak-Instamatic

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics

Electronic materials and microelectronic devices
are the heart of countless modern products,
such as CD players, televisions, computers, and
wireless devices. From vacuum tubes to
transistors to integrated circuits, chemical
engineers have made electronics smaller, more
powerful, energy-efficient, and cheaper. New
materials, processes for producing highly
purified materials, and processes for building
semiconductors have resulted in components,
such as transistors and integrated circuits, which
can be assembled into complex electronic
circuitry to provide new capabilities to a wide
range of electronic devices.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Advanced synthetic materials

Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and
personal computers rely on though, durable,
non-conducting plastics to protect sensitive
electronic components. Plastics are essential
in electronic applications because of their
insulating properties; the flow of electrons
that make up electrical currents cannot
readily
penetrate
plastics’
molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of
molecules and creating new ones, chemists
and engineers are producing new materials
that are both strong and flexible. These
advances have improved impact resistance,
reduced the total weight of equipment, and
reduced the cost of consumer goods.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Transistors

It was the tiny, reliable electronic
component called a transistor that
enabled the marriage of computers
and communication more than any
other single development. In 1947,
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William
Shockley
invented
the
transistor, and it gradually replaced the
bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had
been amplifying and switching signals.
The transistor and the subsequent
integrated circuits (that contains
millions of transistors) served as the
foundation for the development of
modern electronics. By 1954, the
wildly popular transistor radio was
introduced, and by 1958, an American
electrical engineer, Seymour Cray
developed a transistorized computer.

The first transistor
The inventors of
transistor


Slide 3

TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES FROM THE CHEMIST’S VIEW
II. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Innovations in chemistry, engineering, and
electronics from the end of the nineteenth century
until today have helped us to keep contact at any
site of the world.
The lifestyle of the humanity has been radically
changed in the last century, from rural to urban life,
from education for the elite to education for the
masses, from agriculture to research work. The
subsequent flow of people, information, new ideas,
and materials has brought significant social change.
Numerous results of chemistry have contributed to
the development of many communication tools that
we need in order to capture, store, and distribute
information. Wireless communications and fiber
optics serve our internet society. Silicon chemistry
and high-performance polymers make today’s
computer microprocessors possible. Movies,
television, and photography all rely on chemistry to
help preserve our memories.
Scientific achievements of chemists contribute to
keep contact by remote family members with each
other.

Chronology
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Wireless communications
Facsimile technology and xerography
Laser and fiber optics
II. 2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Semiconductor technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
Monitor and display technologies
Information storage
Communications satellites
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
Television
Photography
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Transistors

Technology Milestones in Information and Communications
Chronology

1876 Alexander Graham Bell completes the first telephone call.
1926 The Warner brothers make the first movie to synchronize music and audio effects.
1926 The first two-way voice conversation is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts first television image using a cathode ray tube.
1946 ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, is put into operation. Since 1944 the Hungarian-born John von Neumann took
part in the modification of some mathematical-logical details of ENIAC.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1955 Reynold Johnson develops the first disk drive.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1961 Silicon chips first appear.

1961 Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite, is sent into orbit.
1961 The firm Eastman Kodak introduces the popular Instamatic camera with film cartridge.
1971 Intel company introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor for consumer use.
1977 Town Chicago tests the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.
1983 Cellular phones become popular after the automatic switching of wireless communications through a series of cells was
discovered.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc-read-only memory) is introduced along with its companion compact disc (CD) player.

II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone

Since Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876,
it has become a cornerstone of
modern life by offering nearly
instant connections around the
world. The first two-way voice
conversation was transmitted
across the Atlantic Ocean in
1926,
and
commercial
telephone service (using radio)
began between New York and
London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service
in 1935. Transoceanic phone
service was eventually handled
by submarine cables in 1956
and since 1962 communications
satellites. Today’s chemical
engineers have brought us from
copper wire to fiber optics, from
switchboards to satellites, and
from party lines to the Internet.

A. Graham Bell

II. 1. Communications Advances
Wireless communications

Cellular phones and pagers depend on
printed and integrated circuits, advanced
materials, and miniaturization techniques
enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs
developed mobile car telephones in the
1940s, but they were unpopular due to a
lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when
wireless communications were divided
into a series of cells that automatically
switched callers as they moved so that
each cell could be reused. Cellular phones
quickly became popular. Chemistry has
also played a role in the development of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in
cellular phones.

Switchboard

II. 1. Communications Advances
Facsimile technology and xerography

Although Arthur Korn, the German
inventor transmitted first pictures
electronically in 1902, the first
functioning fax machine debuted in
1924 that adapted telephone circuits
for
picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into
electrical signals that indicated the
shades of the image. This data was
transmitted by telephone onto a
receiving sheet of photographic
negative film and then developed in a
darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced to allow an
exact replication of an image to be
made. Chemical innovations in
facsimile technology include new
toners and inks, advanced paper
technology, and organic photoreceptor
technology in the 1970s.

Telephotography

II. 1. Communications Advances
Laser and fiber optics

Pure glass fibers now provide the infrastructure
to carry information via laser-produced light in a
revolutionary technical achievement. Chemical
researchers invented the first optical fiber in
1970. Once fiber optics were fabricated and
installed as integrated components. The first
lightwave system was installed in 1977 to
provide voice, data, and video service over a
network. Today, a single fiber-optic cable can
transmit millions of phone calls, data files, and
video images.

Installation fiber optics in
Chicago downtown (1977)

II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers

Chemical engineering has fueled the computing
revolution and continues to make computers faster,
powerful, and affordable. In 1939, the first electronic
computer is invented at Iowa State University.
Programmable calculators with binary numbers and
Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In 1946,
ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, goes into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuts in 1962. By
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4bit microprocessor for consumer use and the personal
computer market exploded. Today’s innovations continue
with transistors, silicon chips, integrated components,
data storage devices, and advanced materials.

John von Neumann and the
ENIAC

II.2. Computer Technology
Semiconductor technology

Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s
computers, appliances, and communication devices.
Semiconductors, opposite to metals, are a class of
materials that increase their conductivity by elevated
temperatures. These semiconductors are further
treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made
from semiconductors materials. Semiconductors
enable electronic components to be smaller, faster,
and more energy-efficient. Chemists in the
semiconductor industry provide quality control of
components,
optimization
processes,
troubleshooting, and innovations to microelectronic
devices.

A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)

An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)

II.2. Computer Technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits

In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William
Shockley, and Walter Brattain demonstrated
that the flow of electricity through silicon could
be selectively controlled. The subsequent
creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors enable today’s high-speed,
efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961) consist
of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and memory
chips built in layers on silicon wafers, then
exposed to a multi-step chemical process. In
1967, the first hand-held calculator is made
using an integrated circuit, a small electronic
device containing many transistors and other
electronic components. In the 1980s, integrated
circuits are applied to computers.

Silicon chip

The first
integrated circuit

II.2. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies

Dramatic improvements have been made
in computer display technology in recent
years. High-resolution color graphics
screens are mainly based on the
television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen
displays for laptop and notebook
computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD)
based on organic chemicals were invented
in 1969. Today’s subsequent development
is a thin-film transistors liquid crystal
display in which each picture elements is
driven by its own individual transistors.
Chemists have developed liquid crystal
materials, color filters, polymer alignment
layers, molded-plastic light distribution
sheets, and plasma display technology.
Camera Obscura

II.2. Computer Technology
Information storage

Information must be recorded so that it can be
retrieved at a later time if it is to be used and
manipulated fully. Chemistry innovations have
ensured that the media for such recordings has
remained
high-quality,
easy-to-use,
and
inexpensive.
Breakthroughs
in
recording
capabilities (higher resolution, faster speed, and
color), photographic films, magnetic audio
recordings, and digital imaging have also
brought advances in recording devices. In 1955,
Reynold Johnson, an American inventor and
computer pioneer developed the first disk drive
to store computerized data. Many subsequent
advances were made, especially with computer
disks, magnetic tapes, and CD-ROMs (1984).
Early disk drive

II.2. Computer Technology
Communications satellites

Until the 1960s, voice communications
between North America and other continents
were very expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the
world’s first active communications satellite,
was sent into orbit. Chemistry enhanced the
structural materials (metal alloys, plastic, and
other advanced materials), computer and
electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these
satellites. Communications satellites played
a major role in expanding both international
and domestic long distance calling and
television transmission until the 1990s.
Today, communications satellites play an
increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite
dishes with digital television.

Telstar

Manufacturing of
GPS satellites
GPS satellites on
orbit

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies

In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first
feature-length movie to synchronize
singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s,
processes of the firm Technicolor had
been refined and the first color features
were a big draw. The chemistry of film
required a series of breakthroughs
involving
basic
materials,
different
chemical solutions, and exposure to light.

The showbill of the first feature-length
movie, The Jazz Singer, with
synchronized singing and dialogue

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Television

The Scotman John Logie Baird
displayed television publicly for the first
time in London, 1926, using mechanical
television system, the Nipkow disc,
patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth
transmitted
the
first
television image using cathode ray tube
(invented in 1897). The next twenty
years was the era of the vacuum tube in
electronics, and chemistry contributed
the unique materials for electrodes and
control elements within the tube. By the
1950s, many innovations were made,
including the integrated circuit in 1958.
The following decades brought solidstate imaging devices, miniaturization,
and varied electronic improvements.

The Nipkow disc and its inventor Paul Nipkow

Philo T. Farnsworth and
the cathode ray tube

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Photography

Photography
and
films
technology enables us to record
the most important experiences
and people in our lives.
Chemistry developed the film for
all types of cameras with
breakthroughs involving basic
materials, different chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
Battery improvements have also
contributed to the popularity of
the camera, including the 1950s
alkaline manganese batteries
that were tremendously popular
in small cameras with built-in
flash unit. Being able to
manipulate film, electronics, and
batteries led to the 1963
introduction of Eastman Kodak’s
popular Instamatic camera with
film cartridge that was sold over
50 millions by 1970.

Kodak-Instamatic

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics

Electronic materials and microelectronic devices
are the heart of countless modern products,
such as CD players, televisions, computers, and
wireless devices. From vacuum tubes to
transistors to integrated circuits, chemical
engineers have made electronics smaller, more
powerful, energy-efficient, and cheaper. New
materials, processes for producing highly
purified materials, and processes for building
semiconductors have resulted in components,
such as transistors and integrated circuits, which
can be assembled into complex electronic
circuitry to provide new capabilities to a wide
range of electronic devices.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Advanced synthetic materials

Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and
personal computers rely on though, durable,
non-conducting plastics to protect sensitive
electronic components. Plastics are essential
in electronic applications because of their
insulating properties; the flow of electrons
that make up electrical currents cannot
readily
penetrate
plastics’
molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of
molecules and creating new ones, chemists
and engineers are producing new materials
that are both strong and flexible. These
advances have improved impact resistance,
reduced the total weight of equipment, and
reduced the cost of consumer goods.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Transistors

It was the tiny, reliable electronic
component called a transistor that
enabled the marriage of computers
and communication more than any
other single development. In 1947,
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William
Shockley
invented
the
transistor, and it gradually replaced the
bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had
been amplifying and switching signals.
The transistor and the subsequent
integrated circuits (that contains
millions of transistors) served as the
foundation for the development of
modern electronics. By 1954, the
wildly popular transistor radio was
introduced, and by 1958, an American
electrical engineer, Seymour Cray
developed a transistorized computer.

The first transistor
The inventors of
transistor


Slide 4

TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES FROM THE CHEMIST’S VIEW
II. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Innovations in chemistry, engineering, and
electronics from the end of the nineteenth century
until today have helped us to keep contact at any
site of the world.
The lifestyle of the humanity has been radically
changed in the last century, from rural to urban life,
from education for the elite to education for the
masses, from agriculture to research work. The
subsequent flow of people, information, new ideas,
and materials has brought significant social change.
Numerous results of chemistry have contributed to
the development of many communication tools that
we need in order to capture, store, and distribute
information. Wireless communications and fiber
optics serve our internet society. Silicon chemistry
and high-performance polymers make today’s
computer microprocessors possible. Movies,
television, and photography all rely on chemistry to
help preserve our memories.
Scientific achievements of chemists contribute to
keep contact by remote family members with each
other.

Chronology
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Wireless communications
Facsimile technology and xerography
Laser and fiber optics
II. 2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Semiconductor technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
Monitor and display technologies
Information storage
Communications satellites
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
Television
Photography
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Transistors

Technology Milestones in Information and Communications
Chronology

1876 Alexander Graham Bell completes the first telephone call.
1926 The Warner brothers make the first movie to synchronize music and audio effects.
1926 The first two-way voice conversation is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts first television image using a cathode ray tube.
1946 ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, is put into operation. Since 1944 the Hungarian-born John von Neumann took
part in the modification of some mathematical-logical details of ENIAC.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1955 Reynold Johnson develops the first disk drive.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1961 Silicon chips first appear.

1961 Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite, is sent into orbit.
1961 The firm Eastman Kodak introduces the popular Instamatic camera with film cartridge.
1971 Intel company introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor for consumer use.
1977 Town Chicago tests the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.
1983 Cellular phones become popular after the automatic switching of wireless communications through a series of cells was
discovered.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc-read-only memory) is introduced along with its companion compact disc (CD) player.

II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone

Since Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876,
it has become a cornerstone of
modern life by offering nearly
instant connections around the
world. The first two-way voice
conversation was transmitted
across the Atlantic Ocean in
1926,
and
commercial
telephone service (using radio)
began between New York and
London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service
in 1935. Transoceanic phone
service was eventually handled
by submarine cables in 1956
and since 1962 communications
satellites. Today’s chemical
engineers have brought us from
copper wire to fiber optics, from
switchboards to satellites, and
from party lines to the Internet.

A. Graham Bell

II. 1. Communications Advances
Wireless communications

Cellular phones and pagers depend on
printed and integrated circuits, advanced
materials, and miniaturization techniques
enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs
developed mobile car telephones in the
1940s, but they were unpopular due to a
lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when
wireless communications were divided
into a series of cells that automatically
switched callers as they moved so that
each cell could be reused. Cellular phones
quickly became popular. Chemistry has
also played a role in the development of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in
cellular phones.

Switchboard

II. 1. Communications Advances
Facsimile technology and xerography

Although Arthur Korn, the German
inventor transmitted first pictures
electronically in 1902, the first
functioning fax machine debuted in
1924 that adapted telephone circuits
for
picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into
electrical signals that indicated the
shades of the image. This data was
transmitted by telephone onto a
receiving sheet of photographic
negative film and then developed in a
darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced to allow an
exact replication of an image to be
made. Chemical innovations in
facsimile technology include new
toners and inks, advanced paper
technology, and organic photoreceptor
technology in the 1970s.

Telephotography

II. 1. Communications Advances
Laser and fiber optics

Pure glass fibers now provide the infrastructure
to carry information via laser-produced light in a
revolutionary technical achievement. Chemical
researchers invented the first optical fiber in
1970. Once fiber optics were fabricated and
installed as integrated components. The first
lightwave system was installed in 1977 to
provide voice, data, and video service over a
network. Today, a single fiber-optic cable can
transmit millions of phone calls, data files, and
video images.

Installation fiber optics in
Chicago downtown (1977)

II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers

Chemical engineering has fueled the computing
revolution and continues to make computers faster,
powerful, and affordable. In 1939, the first electronic
computer is invented at Iowa State University.
Programmable calculators with binary numbers and
Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In 1946,
ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, goes into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuts in 1962. By
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4bit microprocessor for consumer use and the personal
computer market exploded. Today’s innovations continue
with transistors, silicon chips, integrated components,
data storage devices, and advanced materials.

John von Neumann and the
ENIAC

II.2. Computer Technology
Semiconductor technology

Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s
computers, appliances, and communication devices.
Semiconductors, opposite to metals, are a class of
materials that increase their conductivity by elevated
temperatures. These semiconductors are further
treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made
from semiconductors materials. Semiconductors
enable electronic components to be smaller, faster,
and more energy-efficient. Chemists in the
semiconductor industry provide quality control of
components,
optimization
processes,
troubleshooting, and innovations to microelectronic
devices.

A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)

An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)

II.2. Computer Technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits

In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William
Shockley, and Walter Brattain demonstrated
that the flow of electricity through silicon could
be selectively controlled. The subsequent
creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors enable today’s high-speed,
efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961) consist
of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and memory
chips built in layers on silicon wafers, then
exposed to a multi-step chemical process. In
1967, the first hand-held calculator is made
using an integrated circuit, a small electronic
device containing many transistors and other
electronic components. In the 1980s, integrated
circuits are applied to computers.

Silicon chip

The first
integrated circuit

II.2. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies

Dramatic improvements have been made
in computer display technology in recent
years. High-resolution color graphics
screens are mainly based on the
television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen
displays for laptop and notebook
computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD)
based on organic chemicals were invented
in 1969. Today’s subsequent development
is a thin-film transistors liquid crystal
display in which each picture elements is
driven by its own individual transistors.
Chemists have developed liquid crystal
materials, color filters, polymer alignment
layers, molded-plastic light distribution
sheets, and plasma display technology.
Camera Obscura

II.2. Computer Technology
Information storage

Information must be recorded so that it can be
retrieved at a later time if it is to be used and
manipulated fully. Chemistry innovations have
ensured that the media for such recordings has
remained
high-quality,
easy-to-use,
and
inexpensive.
Breakthroughs
in
recording
capabilities (higher resolution, faster speed, and
color), photographic films, magnetic audio
recordings, and digital imaging have also
brought advances in recording devices. In 1955,
Reynold Johnson, an American inventor and
computer pioneer developed the first disk drive
to store computerized data. Many subsequent
advances were made, especially with computer
disks, magnetic tapes, and CD-ROMs (1984).
Early disk drive

II.2. Computer Technology
Communications satellites

Until the 1960s, voice communications
between North America and other continents
were very expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the
world’s first active communications satellite,
was sent into orbit. Chemistry enhanced the
structural materials (metal alloys, plastic, and
other advanced materials), computer and
electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these
satellites. Communications satellites played
a major role in expanding both international
and domestic long distance calling and
television transmission until the 1990s.
Today, communications satellites play an
increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite
dishes with digital television.

Telstar

Manufacturing of
GPS satellites
GPS satellites on
orbit

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies

In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first
feature-length movie to synchronize
singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s,
processes of the firm Technicolor had
been refined and the first color features
were a big draw. The chemistry of film
required a series of breakthroughs
involving
basic
materials,
different
chemical solutions, and exposure to light.

The showbill of the first feature-length
movie, The Jazz Singer, with
synchronized singing and dialogue

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Television

The Scotman John Logie Baird
displayed television publicly for the first
time in London, 1926, using mechanical
television system, the Nipkow disc,
patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth
transmitted
the
first
television image using cathode ray tube
(invented in 1897). The next twenty
years was the era of the vacuum tube in
electronics, and chemistry contributed
the unique materials for electrodes and
control elements within the tube. By the
1950s, many innovations were made,
including the integrated circuit in 1958.
The following decades brought solidstate imaging devices, miniaturization,
and varied electronic improvements.

The Nipkow disc and its inventor Paul Nipkow

Philo T. Farnsworth and
the cathode ray tube

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Photography

Photography
and
films
technology enables us to record
the most important experiences
and people in our lives.
Chemistry developed the film for
all types of cameras with
breakthroughs involving basic
materials, different chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
Battery improvements have also
contributed to the popularity of
the camera, including the 1950s
alkaline manganese batteries
that were tremendously popular
in small cameras with built-in
flash unit. Being able to
manipulate film, electronics, and
batteries led to the 1963
introduction of Eastman Kodak’s
popular Instamatic camera with
film cartridge that was sold over
50 millions by 1970.

Kodak-Instamatic

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics

Electronic materials and microelectronic devices
are the heart of countless modern products,
such as CD players, televisions, computers, and
wireless devices. From vacuum tubes to
transistors to integrated circuits, chemical
engineers have made electronics smaller, more
powerful, energy-efficient, and cheaper. New
materials, processes for producing highly
purified materials, and processes for building
semiconductors have resulted in components,
such as transistors and integrated circuits, which
can be assembled into complex electronic
circuitry to provide new capabilities to a wide
range of electronic devices.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Advanced synthetic materials

Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and
personal computers rely on though, durable,
non-conducting plastics to protect sensitive
electronic components. Plastics are essential
in electronic applications because of their
insulating properties; the flow of electrons
that make up electrical currents cannot
readily
penetrate
plastics’
molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of
molecules and creating new ones, chemists
and engineers are producing new materials
that are both strong and flexible. These
advances have improved impact resistance,
reduced the total weight of equipment, and
reduced the cost of consumer goods.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Transistors

It was the tiny, reliable electronic
component called a transistor that
enabled the marriage of computers
and communication more than any
other single development. In 1947,
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William
Shockley
invented
the
transistor, and it gradually replaced the
bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had
been amplifying and switching signals.
The transistor and the subsequent
integrated circuits (that contains
millions of transistors) served as the
foundation for the development of
modern electronics. By 1954, the
wildly popular transistor radio was
introduced, and by 1958, an American
electrical engineer, Seymour Cray
developed a transistorized computer.

The first transistor
The inventors of
transistor


Slide 5

TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES FROM THE CHEMIST’S VIEW
II. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Innovations in chemistry, engineering, and
electronics from the end of the nineteenth century
until today have helped us to keep contact at any
site of the world.
The lifestyle of the humanity has been radically
changed in the last century, from rural to urban life,
from education for the elite to education for the
masses, from agriculture to research work. The
subsequent flow of people, information, new ideas,
and materials has brought significant social change.
Numerous results of chemistry have contributed to
the development of many communication tools that
we need in order to capture, store, and distribute
information. Wireless communications and fiber
optics serve our internet society. Silicon chemistry
and high-performance polymers make today’s
computer microprocessors possible. Movies,
television, and photography all rely on chemistry to
help preserve our memories.
Scientific achievements of chemists contribute to
keep contact by remote family members with each
other.

Chronology
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Wireless communications
Facsimile technology and xerography
Laser and fiber optics
II. 2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Semiconductor technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
Monitor and display technologies
Information storage
Communications satellites
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
Television
Photography
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Transistors

Technology Milestones in Information and Communications
Chronology

1876 Alexander Graham Bell completes the first telephone call.
1926 The Warner brothers make the first movie to synchronize music and audio effects.
1926 The first two-way voice conversation is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts first television image using a cathode ray tube.
1946 ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, is put into operation. Since 1944 the Hungarian-born John von Neumann took
part in the modification of some mathematical-logical details of ENIAC.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1955 Reynold Johnson develops the first disk drive.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1961 Silicon chips first appear.

1961 Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite, is sent into orbit.
1961 The firm Eastman Kodak introduces the popular Instamatic camera with film cartridge.
1971 Intel company introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor for consumer use.
1977 Town Chicago tests the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.
1983 Cellular phones become popular after the automatic switching of wireless communications through a series of cells was
discovered.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc-read-only memory) is introduced along with its companion compact disc (CD) player.

II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone

Since Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876,
it has become a cornerstone of
modern life by offering nearly
instant connections around the
world. The first two-way voice
conversation was transmitted
across the Atlantic Ocean in
1926,
and
commercial
telephone service (using radio)
began between New York and
London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service
in 1935. Transoceanic phone
service was eventually handled
by submarine cables in 1956
and since 1962 communications
satellites. Today’s chemical
engineers have brought us from
copper wire to fiber optics, from
switchboards to satellites, and
from party lines to the Internet.

A. Graham Bell

II. 1. Communications Advances
Wireless communications

Cellular phones and pagers depend on
printed and integrated circuits, advanced
materials, and miniaturization techniques
enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs
developed mobile car telephones in the
1940s, but they were unpopular due to a
lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when
wireless communications were divided
into a series of cells that automatically
switched callers as they moved so that
each cell could be reused. Cellular phones
quickly became popular. Chemistry has
also played a role in the development of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in
cellular phones.

Switchboard

II. 1. Communications Advances
Facsimile technology and xerography

Although Arthur Korn, the German
inventor transmitted first pictures
electronically in 1902, the first
functioning fax machine debuted in
1924 that adapted telephone circuits
for
picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into
electrical signals that indicated the
shades of the image. This data was
transmitted by telephone onto a
receiving sheet of photographic
negative film and then developed in a
darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced to allow an
exact replication of an image to be
made. Chemical innovations in
facsimile technology include new
toners and inks, advanced paper
technology, and organic photoreceptor
technology in the 1970s.

Telephotography

II. 1. Communications Advances
Laser and fiber optics

Pure glass fibers now provide the infrastructure
to carry information via laser-produced light in a
revolutionary technical achievement. Chemical
researchers invented the first optical fiber in
1970. Once fiber optics were fabricated and
installed as integrated components. The first
lightwave system was installed in 1977 to
provide voice, data, and video service over a
network. Today, a single fiber-optic cable can
transmit millions of phone calls, data files, and
video images.

Installation fiber optics in
Chicago downtown (1977)

II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers

Chemical engineering has fueled the computing
revolution and continues to make computers faster,
powerful, and affordable. In 1939, the first electronic
computer is invented at Iowa State University.
Programmable calculators with binary numbers and
Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In 1946,
ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, goes into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuts in 1962. By
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4bit microprocessor for consumer use and the personal
computer market exploded. Today’s innovations continue
with transistors, silicon chips, integrated components,
data storage devices, and advanced materials.

John von Neumann and the
ENIAC

II.2. Computer Technology
Semiconductor technology

Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s
computers, appliances, and communication devices.
Semiconductors, opposite to metals, are a class of
materials that increase their conductivity by elevated
temperatures. These semiconductors are further
treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made
from semiconductors materials. Semiconductors
enable electronic components to be smaller, faster,
and more energy-efficient. Chemists in the
semiconductor industry provide quality control of
components,
optimization
processes,
troubleshooting, and innovations to microelectronic
devices.

A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)

An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)

II.2. Computer Technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits

In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William
Shockley, and Walter Brattain demonstrated
that the flow of electricity through silicon could
be selectively controlled. The subsequent
creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors enable today’s high-speed,
efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961) consist
of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and memory
chips built in layers on silicon wafers, then
exposed to a multi-step chemical process. In
1967, the first hand-held calculator is made
using an integrated circuit, a small electronic
device containing many transistors and other
electronic components. In the 1980s, integrated
circuits are applied to computers.

Silicon chip

The first
integrated circuit

II.2. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies

Dramatic improvements have been made
in computer display technology in recent
years. High-resolution color graphics
screens are mainly based on the
television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen
displays for laptop and notebook
computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD)
based on organic chemicals were invented
in 1969. Today’s subsequent development
is a thin-film transistors liquid crystal
display in which each picture elements is
driven by its own individual transistors.
Chemists have developed liquid crystal
materials, color filters, polymer alignment
layers, molded-plastic light distribution
sheets, and plasma display technology.
Camera Obscura

II.2. Computer Technology
Information storage

Information must be recorded so that it can be
retrieved at a later time if it is to be used and
manipulated fully. Chemistry innovations have
ensured that the media for such recordings has
remained
high-quality,
easy-to-use,
and
inexpensive.
Breakthroughs
in
recording
capabilities (higher resolution, faster speed, and
color), photographic films, magnetic audio
recordings, and digital imaging have also
brought advances in recording devices. In 1955,
Reynold Johnson, an American inventor and
computer pioneer developed the first disk drive
to store computerized data. Many subsequent
advances were made, especially with computer
disks, magnetic tapes, and CD-ROMs (1984).
Early disk drive

II.2. Computer Technology
Communications satellites

Until the 1960s, voice communications
between North America and other continents
were very expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the
world’s first active communications satellite,
was sent into orbit. Chemistry enhanced the
structural materials (metal alloys, plastic, and
other advanced materials), computer and
electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these
satellites. Communications satellites played
a major role in expanding both international
and domestic long distance calling and
television transmission until the 1990s.
Today, communications satellites play an
increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite
dishes with digital television.

Telstar

Manufacturing of
GPS satellites
GPS satellites on
orbit

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies

In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first
feature-length movie to synchronize
singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s,
processes of the firm Technicolor had
been refined and the first color features
were a big draw. The chemistry of film
required a series of breakthroughs
involving
basic
materials,
different
chemical solutions, and exposure to light.

The showbill of the first feature-length
movie, The Jazz Singer, with
synchronized singing and dialogue

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Television

The Scotman John Logie Baird
displayed television publicly for the first
time in London, 1926, using mechanical
television system, the Nipkow disc,
patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth
transmitted
the
first
television image using cathode ray tube
(invented in 1897). The next twenty
years was the era of the vacuum tube in
electronics, and chemistry contributed
the unique materials for electrodes and
control elements within the tube. By the
1950s, many innovations were made,
including the integrated circuit in 1958.
The following decades brought solidstate imaging devices, miniaturization,
and varied electronic improvements.

The Nipkow disc and its inventor Paul Nipkow

Philo T. Farnsworth and
the cathode ray tube

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Photography

Photography
and
films
technology enables us to record
the most important experiences
and people in our lives.
Chemistry developed the film for
all types of cameras with
breakthroughs involving basic
materials, different chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
Battery improvements have also
contributed to the popularity of
the camera, including the 1950s
alkaline manganese batteries
that were tremendously popular
in small cameras with built-in
flash unit. Being able to
manipulate film, electronics, and
batteries led to the 1963
introduction of Eastman Kodak’s
popular Instamatic camera with
film cartridge that was sold over
50 millions by 1970.

Kodak-Instamatic

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics

Electronic materials and microelectronic devices
are the heart of countless modern products,
such as CD players, televisions, computers, and
wireless devices. From vacuum tubes to
transistors to integrated circuits, chemical
engineers have made electronics smaller, more
powerful, energy-efficient, and cheaper. New
materials, processes for producing highly
purified materials, and processes for building
semiconductors have resulted in components,
such as transistors and integrated circuits, which
can be assembled into complex electronic
circuitry to provide new capabilities to a wide
range of electronic devices.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Advanced synthetic materials

Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and
personal computers rely on though, durable,
non-conducting plastics to protect sensitive
electronic components. Plastics are essential
in electronic applications because of their
insulating properties; the flow of electrons
that make up electrical currents cannot
readily
penetrate
plastics’
molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of
molecules and creating new ones, chemists
and engineers are producing new materials
that are both strong and flexible. These
advances have improved impact resistance,
reduced the total weight of equipment, and
reduced the cost of consumer goods.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Transistors

It was the tiny, reliable electronic
component called a transistor that
enabled the marriage of computers
and communication more than any
other single development. In 1947,
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William
Shockley
invented
the
transistor, and it gradually replaced the
bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had
been amplifying and switching signals.
The transistor and the subsequent
integrated circuits (that contains
millions of transistors) served as the
foundation for the development of
modern electronics. By 1954, the
wildly popular transistor radio was
introduced, and by 1958, an American
electrical engineer, Seymour Cray
developed a transistorized computer.

The first transistor
The inventors of
transistor


Slide 6

TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES FROM THE CHEMIST’S VIEW
II. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Innovations in chemistry, engineering, and
electronics from the end of the nineteenth century
until today have helped us to keep contact at any
site of the world.
The lifestyle of the humanity has been radically
changed in the last century, from rural to urban life,
from education for the elite to education for the
masses, from agriculture to research work. The
subsequent flow of people, information, new ideas,
and materials has brought significant social change.
Numerous results of chemistry have contributed to
the development of many communication tools that
we need in order to capture, store, and distribute
information. Wireless communications and fiber
optics serve our internet society. Silicon chemistry
and high-performance polymers make today’s
computer microprocessors possible. Movies,
television, and photography all rely on chemistry to
help preserve our memories.
Scientific achievements of chemists contribute to
keep contact by remote family members with each
other.

Chronology
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Wireless communications
Facsimile technology and xerography
Laser and fiber optics
II. 2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Semiconductor technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
Monitor and display technologies
Information storage
Communications satellites
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
Television
Photography
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Transistors

Technology Milestones in Information and Communications
Chronology

1876 Alexander Graham Bell completes the first telephone call.
1926 The Warner brothers make the first movie to synchronize music and audio effects.
1926 The first two-way voice conversation is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts first television image using a cathode ray tube.
1946 ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, is put into operation. Since 1944 the Hungarian-born John von Neumann took
part in the modification of some mathematical-logical details of ENIAC.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1955 Reynold Johnson develops the first disk drive.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1961 Silicon chips first appear.

1961 Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite, is sent into orbit.
1961 The firm Eastman Kodak introduces the popular Instamatic camera with film cartridge.
1971 Intel company introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor for consumer use.
1977 Town Chicago tests the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.
1983 Cellular phones become popular after the automatic switching of wireless communications through a series of cells was
discovered.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc-read-only memory) is introduced along with its companion compact disc (CD) player.

II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone

Since Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876,
it has become a cornerstone of
modern life by offering nearly
instant connections around the
world. The first two-way voice
conversation was transmitted
across the Atlantic Ocean in
1926,
and
commercial
telephone service (using radio)
began between New York and
London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service
in 1935. Transoceanic phone
service was eventually handled
by submarine cables in 1956
and since 1962 communications
satellites. Today’s chemical
engineers have brought us from
copper wire to fiber optics, from
switchboards to satellites, and
from party lines to the Internet.

A. Graham Bell

II. 1. Communications Advances
Wireless communications

Cellular phones and pagers depend on
printed and integrated circuits, advanced
materials, and miniaturization techniques
enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs
developed mobile car telephones in the
1940s, but they were unpopular due to a
lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when
wireless communications were divided
into a series of cells that automatically
switched callers as they moved so that
each cell could be reused. Cellular phones
quickly became popular. Chemistry has
also played a role in the development of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in
cellular phones.

Switchboard

II. 1. Communications Advances
Facsimile technology and xerography

Although Arthur Korn, the German
inventor transmitted first pictures
electronically in 1902, the first
functioning fax machine debuted in
1924 that adapted telephone circuits
for
picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into
electrical signals that indicated the
shades of the image. This data was
transmitted by telephone onto a
receiving sheet of photographic
negative film and then developed in a
darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced to allow an
exact replication of an image to be
made. Chemical innovations in
facsimile technology include new
toners and inks, advanced paper
technology, and organic photoreceptor
technology in the 1970s.

Telephotography

II. 1. Communications Advances
Laser and fiber optics

Pure glass fibers now provide the infrastructure
to carry information via laser-produced light in a
revolutionary technical achievement. Chemical
researchers invented the first optical fiber in
1970. Once fiber optics were fabricated and
installed as integrated components. The first
lightwave system was installed in 1977 to
provide voice, data, and video service over a
network. Today, a single fiber-optic cable can
transmit millions of phone calls, data files, and
video images.

Installation fiber optics in
Chicago downtown (1977)

II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers

Chemical engineering has fueled the computing
revolution and continues to make computers faster,
powerful, and affordable. In 1939, the first electronic
computer is invented at Iowa State University.
Programmable calculators with binary numbers and
Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In 1946,
ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, goes into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuts in 1962. By
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4bit microprocessor for consumer use and the personal
computer market exploded. Today’s innovations continue
with transistors, silicon chips, integrated components,
data storage devices, and advanced materials.

John von Neumann and the
ENIAC

II.2. Computer Technology
Semiconductor technology

Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s
computers, appliances, and communication devices.
Semiconductors, opposite to metals, are a class of
materials that increase their conductivity by elevated
temperatures. These semiconductors are further
treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made
from semiconductors materials. Semiconductors
enable electronic components to be smaller, faster,
and more energy-efficient. Chemists in the
semiconductor industry provide quality control of
components,
optimization
processes,
troubleshooting, and innovations to microelectronic
devices.

A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)

An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)

II.2. Computer Technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits

In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William
Shockley, and Walter Brattain demonstrated
that the flow of electricity through silicon could
be selectively controlled. The subsequent
creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors enable today’s high-speed,
efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961) consist
of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and memory
chips built in layers on silicon wafers, then
exposed to a multi-step chemical process. In
1967, the first hand-held calculator is made
using an integrated circuit, a small electronic
device containing many transistors and other
electronic components. In the 1980s, integrated
circuits are applied to computers.

Silicon chip

The first
integrated circuit

II.2. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies

Dramatic improvements have been made
in computer display technology in recent
years. High-resolution color graphics
screens are mainly based on the
television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen
displays for laptop and notebook
computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD)
based on organic chemicals were invented
in 1969. Today’s subsequent development
is a thin-film transistors liquid crystal
display in which each picture elements is
driven by its own individual transistors.
Chemists have developed liquid crystal
materials, color filters, polymer alignment
layers, molded-plastic light distribution
sheets, and plasma display technology.
Camera Obscura

II.2. Computer Technology
Information storage

Information must be recorded so that it can be
retrieved at a later time if it is to be used and
manipulated fully. Chemistry innovations have
ensured that the media for such recordings has
remained
high-quality,
easy-to-use,
and
inexpensive.
Breakthroughs
in
recording
capabilities (higher resolution, faster speed, and
color), photographic films, magnetic audio
recordings, and digital imaging have also
brought advances in recording devices. In 1955,
Reynold Johnson, an American inventor and
computer pioneer developed the first disk drive
to store computerized data. Many subsequent
advances were made, especially with computer
disks, magnetic tapes, and CD-ROMs (1984).
Early disk drive

II.2. Computer Technology
Communications satellites

Until the 1960s, voice communications
between North America and other continents
were very expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the
world’s first active communications satellite,
was sent into orbit. Chemistry enhanced the
structural materials (metal alloys, plastic, and
other advanced materials), computer and
electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these
satellites. Communications satellites played
a major role in expanding both international
and domestic long distance calling and
television transmission until the 1990s.
Today, communications satellites play an
increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite
dishes with digital television.

Telstar

Manufacturing of
GPS satellites
GPS satellites on
orbit

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies

In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first
feature-length movie to synchronize
singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s,
processes of the firm Technicolor had
been refined and the first color features
were a big draw. The chemistry of film
required a series of breakthroughs
involving
basic
materials,
different
chemical solutions, and exposure to light.

The showbill of the first feature-length
movie, The Jazz Singer, with
synchronized singing and dialogue

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Television

The Scotman John Logie Baird
displayed television publicly for the first
time in London, 1926, using mechanical
television system, the Nipkow disc,
patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth
transmitted
the
first
television image using cathode ray tube
(invented in 1897). The next twenty
years was the era of the vacuum tube in
electronics, and chemistry contributed
the unique materials for electrodes and
control elements within the tube. By the
1950s, many innovations were made,
including the integrated circuit in 1958.
The following decades brought solidstate imaging devices, miniaturization,
and varied electronic improvements.

The Nipkow disc and its inventor Paul Nipkow

Philo T. Farnsworth and
the cathode ray tube

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Photography

Photography
and
films
technology enables us to record
the most important experiences
and people in our lives.
Chemistry developed the film for
all types of cameras with
breakthroughs involving basic
materials, different chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
Battery improvements have also
contributed to the popularity of
the camera, including the 1950s
alkaline manganese batteries
that were tremendously popular
in small cameras with built-in
flash unit. Being able to
manipulate film, electronics, and
batteries led to the 1963
introduction of Eastman Kodak’s
popular Instamatic camera with
film cartridge that was sold over
50 millions by 1970.

Kodak-Instamatic

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics

Electronic materials and microelectronic devices
are the heart of countless modern products,
such as CD players, televisions, computers, and
wireless devices. From vacuum tubes to
transistors to integrated circuits, chemical
engineers have made electronics smaller, more
powerful, energy-efficient, and cheaper. New
materials, processes for producing highly
purified materials, and processes for building
semiconductors have resulted in components,
such as transistors and integrated circuits, which
can be assembled into complex electronic
circuitry to provide new capabilities to a wide
range of electronic devices.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Advanced synthetic materials

Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and
personal computers rely on though, durable,
non-conducting plastics to protect sensitive
electronic components. Plastics are essential
in electronic applications because of their
insulating properties; the flow of electrons
that make up electrical currents cannot
readily
penetrate
plastics’
molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of
molecules and creating new ones, chemists
and engineers are producing new materials
that are both strong and flexible. These
advances have improved impact resistance,
reduced the total weight of equipment, and
reduced the cost of consumer goods.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Transistors

It was the tiny, reliable electronic
component called a transistor that
enabled the marriage of computers
and communication more than any
other single development. In 1947,
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William
Shockley
invented
the
transistor, and it gradually replaced the
bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had
been amplifying and switching signals.
The transistor and the subsequent
integrated circuits (that contains
millions of transistors) served as the
foundation for the development of
modern electronics. By 1954, the
wildly popular transistor radio was
introduced, and by 1958, an American
electrical engineer, Seymour Cray
developed a transistorized computer.

The first transistor
The inventors of
transistor


Slide 7

TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES FROM THE CHEMIST’S VIEW
II. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Innovations in chemistry, engineering, and
electronics from the end of the nineteenth century
until today have helped us to keep contact at any
site of the world.
The lifestyle of the humanity has been radically
changed in the last century, from rural to urban life,
from education for the elite to education for the
masses, from agriculture to research work. The
subsequent flow of people, information, new ideas,
and materials has brought significant social change.
Numerous results of chemistry have contributed to
the development of many communication tools that
we need in order to capture, store, and distribute
information. Wireless communications and fiber
optics serve our internet society. Silicon chemistry
and high-performance polymers make today’s
computer microprocessors possible. Movies,
television, and photography all rely on chemistry to
help preserve our memories.
Scientific achievements of chemists contribute to
keep contact by remote family members with each
other.

Chronology
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Wireless communications
Facsimile technology and xerography
Laser and fiber optics
II. 2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Semiconductor technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
Monitor and display technologies
Information storage
Communications satellites
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
Television
Photography
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Transistors

Technology Milestones in Information and Communications
Chronology

1876 Alexander Graham Bell completes the first telephone call.
1926 The Warner brothers make the first movie to synchronize music and audio effects.
1926 The first two-way voice conversation is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts first television image using a cathode ray tube.
1946 ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, is put into operation. Since 1944 the Hungarian-born John von Neumann took
part in the modification of some mathematical-logical details of ENIAC.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1955 Reynold Johnson develops the first disk drive.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1961 Silicon chips first appear.

1961 Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite, is sent into orbit.
1961 The firm Eastman Kodak introduces the popular Instamatic camera with film cartridge.
1971 Intel company introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor for consumer use.
1977 Town Chicago tests the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.
1983 Cellular phones become popular after the automatic switching of wireless communications through a series of cells was
discovered.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc-read-only memory) is introduced along with its companion compact disc (CD) player.

II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone

Since Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876,
it has become a cornerstone of
modern life by offering nearly
instant connections around the
world. The first two-way voice
conversation was transmitted
across the Atlantic Ocean in
1926,
and
commercial
telephone service (using radio)
began between New York and
London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service
in 1935. Transoceanic phone
service was eventually handled
by submarine cables in 1956
and since 1962 communications
satellites. Today’s chemical
engineers have brought us from
copper wire to fiber optics, from
switchboards to satellites, and
from party lines to the Internet.

A. Graham Bell

II. 1. Communications Advances
Wireless communications

Cellular phones and pagers depend on
printed and integrated circuits, advanced
materials, and miniaturization techniques
enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs
developed mobile car telephones in the
1940s, but they were unpopular due to a
lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when
wireless communications were divided
into a series of cells that automatically
switched callers as they moved so that
each cell could be reused. Cellular phones
quickly became popular. Chemistry has
also played a role in the development of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in
cellular phones.

Switchboard

II. 1. Communications Advances
Facsimile technology and xerography

Although Arthur Korn, the German
inventor transmitted first pictures
electronically in 1902, the first
functioning fax machine debuted in
1924 that adapted telephone circuits
for
picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into
electrical signals that indicated the
shades of the image. This data was
transmitted by telephone onto a
receiving sheet of photographic
negative film and then developed in a
darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced to allow an
exact replication of an image to be
made. Chemical innovations in
facsimile technology include new
toners and inks, advanced paper
technology, and organic photoreceptor
technology in the 1970s.

Telephotography

II. 1. Communications Advances
Laser and fiber optics

Pure glass fibers now provide the infrastructure
to carry information via laser-produced light in a
revolutionary technical achievement. Chemical
researchers invented the first optical fiber in
1970. Once fiber optics were fabricated and
installed as integrated components. The first
lightwave system was installed in 1977 to
provide voice, data, and video service over a
network. Today, a single fiber-optic cable can
transmit millions of phone calls, data files, and
video images.

Installation fiber optics in
Chicago downtown (1977)

II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers

Chemical engineering has fueled the computing
revolution and continues to make computers faster,
powerful, and affordable. In 1939, the first electronic
computer is invented at Iowa State University.
Programmable calculators with binary numbers and
Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In 1946,
ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, goes into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuts in 1962. By
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4bit microprocessor for consumer use and the personal
computer market exploded. Today’s innovations continue
with transistors, silicon chips, integrated components,
data storage devices, and advanced materials.

John von Neumann and the
ENIAC

II.2. Computer Technology
Semiconductor technology

Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s
computers, appliances, and communication devices.
Semiconductors, opposite to metals, are a class of
materials that increase their conductivity by elevated
temperatures. These semiconductors are further
treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made
from semiconductors materials. Semiconductors
enable electronic components to be smaller, faster,
and more energy-efficient. Chemists in the
semiconductor industry provide quality control of
components,
optimization
processes,
troubleshooting, and innovations to microelectronic
devices.

A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)

An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)

II.2. Computer Technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits

In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William
Shockley, and Walter Brattain demonstrated
that the flow of electricity through silicon could
be selectively controlled. The subsequent
creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors enable today’s high-speed,
efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961) consist
of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and memory
chips built in layers on silicon wafers, then
exposed to a multi-step chemical process. In
1967, the first hand-held calculator is made
using an integrated circuit, a small electronic
device containing many transistors and other
electronic components. In the 1980s, integrated
circuits are applied to computers.

Silicon chip

The first
integrated circuit

II.2. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies

Dramatic improvements have been made
in computer display technology in recent
years. High-resolution color graphics
screens are mainly based on the
television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen
displays for laptop and notebook
computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD)
based on organic chemicals were invented
in 1969. Today’s subsequent development
is a thin-film transistors liquid crystal
display in which each picture elements is
driven by its own individual transistors.
Chemists have developed liquid crystal
materials, color filters, polymer alignment
layers, molded-plastic light distribution
sheets, and plasma display technology.
Camera Obscura

II.2. Computer Technology
Information storage

Information must be recorded so that it can be
retrieved at a later time if it is to be used and
manipulated fully. Chemistry innovations have
ensured that the media for such recordings has
remained
high-quality,
easy-to-use,
and
inexpensive.
Breakthroughs
in
recording
capabilities (higher resolution, faster speed, and
color), photographic films, magnetic audio
recordings, and digital imaging have also
brought advances in recording devices. In 1955,
Reynold Johnson, an American inventor and
computer pioneer developed the first disk drive
to store computerized data. Many subsequent
advances were made, especially with computer
disks, magnetic tapes, and CD-ROMs (1984).
Early disk drive

II.2. Computer Technology
Communications satellites

Until the 1960s, voice communications
between North America and other continents
were very expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the
world’s first active communications satellite,
was sent into orbit. Chemistry enhanced the
structural materials (metal alloys, plastic, and
other advanced materials), computer and
electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these
satellites. Communications satellites played
a major role in expanding both international
and domestic long distance calling and
television transmission until the 1990s.
Today, communications satellites play an
increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite
dishes with digital television.

Telstar

Manufacturing of
GPS satellites
GPS satellites on
orbit

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies

In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first
feature-length movie to synchronize
singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s,
processes of the firm Technicolor had
been refined and the first color features
were a big draw. The chemistry of film
required a series of breakthroughs
involving
basic
materials,
different
chemical solutions, and exposure to light.

The showbill of the first feature-length
movie, The Jazz Singer, with
synchronized singing and dialogue

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Television

The Scotman John Logie Baird
displayed television publicly for the first
time in London, 1926, using mechanical
television system, the Nipkow disc,
patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth
transmitted
the
first
television image using cathode ray tube
(invented in 1897). The next twenty
years was the era of the vacuum tube in
electronics, and chemistry contributed
the unique materials for electrodes and
control elements within the tube. By the
1950s, many innovations were made,
including the integrated circuit in 1958.
The following decades brought solidstate imaging devices, miniaturization,
and varied electronic improvements.

The Nipkow disc and its inventor Paul Nipkow

Philo T. Farnsworth and
the cathode ray tube

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Photography

Photography
and
films
technology enables us to record
the most important experiences
and people in our lives.
Chemistry developed the film for
all types of cameras with
breakthroughs involving basic
materials, different chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
Battery improvements have also
contributed to the popularity of
the camera, including the 1950s
alkaline manganese batteries
that were tremendously popular
in small cameras with built-in
flash unit. Being able to
manipulate film, electronics, and
batteries led to the 1963
introduction of Eastman Kodak’s
popular Instamatic camera with
film cartridge that was sold over
50 millions by 1970.

Kodak-Instamatic

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics

Electronic materials and microelectronic devices
are the heart of countless modern products,
such as CD players, televisions, computers, and
wireless devices. From vacuum tubes to
transistors to integrated circuits, chemical
engineers have made electronics smaller, more
powerful, energy-efficient, and cheaper. New
materials, processes for producing highly
purified materials, and processes for building
semiconductors have resulted in components,
such as transistors and integrated circuits, which
can be assembled into complex electronic
circuitry to provide new capabilities to a wide
range of electronic devices.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Advanced synthetic materials

Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and
personal computers rely on though, durable,
non-conducting plastics to protect sensitive
electronic components. Plastics are essential
in electronic applications because of their
insulating properties; the flow of electrons
that make up electrical currents cannot
readily
penetrate
plastics’
molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of
molecules and creating new ones, chemists
and engineers are producing new materials
that are both strong and flexible. These
advances have improved impact resistance,
reduced the total weight of equipment, and
reduced the cost of consumer goods.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Transistors

It was the tiny, reliable electronic
component called a transistor that
enabled the marriage of computers
and communication more than any
other single development. In 1947,
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William
Shockley
invented
the
transistor, and it gradually replaced the
bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had
been amplifying and switching signals.
The transistor and the subsequent
integrated circuits (that contains
millions of transistors) served as the
foundation for the development of
modern electronics. By 1954, the
wildly popular transistor radio was
introduced, and by 1958, an American
electrical engineer, Seymour Cray
developed a transistorized computer.

The first transistor
The inventors of
transistor


Slide 8

TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES FROM THE CHEMIST’S VIEW
II. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Innovations in chemistry, engineering, and
electronics from the end of the nineteenth century
until today have helped us to keep contact at any
site of the world.
The lifestyle of the humanity has been radically
changed in the last century, from rural to urban life,
from education for the elite to education for the
masses, from agriculture to research work. The
subsequent flow of people, information, new ideas,
and materials has brought significant social change.
Numerous results of chemistry have contributed to
the development of many communication tools that
we need in order to capture, store, and distribute
information. Wireless communications and fiber
optics serve our internet society. Silicon chemistry
and high-performance polymers make today’s
computer microprocessors possible. Movies,
television, and photography all rely on chemistry to
help preserve our memories.
Scientific achievements of chemists contribute to
keep contact by remote family members with each
other.

Chronology
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Wireless communications
Facsimile technology and xerography
Laser and fiber optics
II. 2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Semiconductor technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
Monitor and display technologies
Information storage
Communications satellites
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
Television
Photography
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Transistors

Technology Milestones in Information and Communications
Chronology

1876 Alexander Graham Bell completes the first telephone call.
1926 The Warner brothers make the first movie to synchronize music and audio effects.
1926 The first two-way voice conversation is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts first television image using a cathode ray tube.
1946 ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, is put into operation. Since 1944 the Hungarian-born John von Neumann took
part in the modification of some mathematical-logical details of ENIAC.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1955 Reynold Johnson develops the first disk drive.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1961 Silicon chips first appear.

1961 Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite, is sent into orbit.
1961 The firm Eastman Kodak introduces the popular Instamatic camera with film cartridge.
1971 Intel company introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor for consumer use.
1977 Town Chicago tests the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.
1983 Cellular phones become popular after the automatic switching of wireless communications through a series of cells was
discovered.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc-read-only memory) is introduced along with its companion compact disc (CD) player.

II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone

Since Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876,
it has become a cornerstone of
modern life by offering nearly
instant connections around the
world. The first two-way voice
conversation was transmitted
across the Atlantic Ocean in
1926,
and
commercial
telephone service (using radio)
began between New York and
London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service
in 1935. Transoceanic phone
service was eventually handled
by submarine cables in 1956
and since 1962 communications
satellites. Today’s chemical
engineers have brought us from
copper wire to fiber optics, from
switchboards to satellites, and
from party lines to the Internet.

A. Graham Bell

II. 1. Communications Advances
Wireless communications

Cellular phones and pagers depend on
printed and integrated circuits, advanced
materials, and miniaturization techniques
enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs
developed mobile car telephones in the
1940s, but they were unpopular due to a
lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when
wireless communications were divided
into a series of cells that automatically
switched callers as they moved so that
each cell could be reused. Cellular phones
quickly became popular. Chemistry has
also played a role in the development of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in
cellular phones.

Switchboard

II. 1. Communications Advances
Facsimile technology and xerography

Although Arthur Korn, the German
inventor transmitted first pictures
electronically in 1902, the first
functioning fax machine debuted in
1924 that adapted telephone circuits
for
picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into
electrical signals that indicated the
shades of the image. This data was
transmitted by telephone onto a
receiving sheet of photographic
negative film and then developed in a
darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced to allow an
exact replication of an image to be
made. Chemical innovations in
facsimile technology include new
toners and inks, advanced paper
technology, and organic photoreceptor
technology in the 1970s.

Telephotography

II. 1. Communications Advances
Laser and fiber optics

Pure glass fibers now provide the infrastructure
to carry information via laser-produced light in a
revolutionary technical achievement. Chemical
researchers invented the first optical fiber in
1970. Once fiber optics were fabricated and
installed as integrated components. The first
lightwave system was installed in 1977 to
provide voice, data, and video service over a
network. Today, a single fiber-optic cable can
transmit millions of phone calls, data files, and
video images.

Installation fiber optics in
Chicago downtown (1977)

II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers

Chemical engineering has fueled the computing
revolution and continues to make computers faster,
powerful, and affordable. In 1939, the first electronic
computer is invented at Iowa State University.
Programmable calculators with binary numbers and
Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In 1946,
ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, goes into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuts in 1962. By
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4bit microprocessor for consumer use and the personal
computer market exploded. Today’s innovations continue
with transistors, silicon chips, integrated components,
data storage devices, and advanced materials.

John von Neumann and the
ENIAC

II.2. Computer Technology
Semiconductor technology

Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s
computers, appliances, and communication devices.
Semiconductors, opposite to metals, are a class of
materials that increase their conductivity by elevated
temperatures. These semiconductors are further
treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made
from semiconductors materials. Semiconductors
enable electronic components to be smaller, faster,
and more energy-efficient. Chemists in the
semiconductor industry provide quality control of
components,
optimization
processes,
troubleshooting, and innovations to microelectronic
devices.

A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)

An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)

II.2. Computer Technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits

In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William
Shockley, and Walter Brattain demonstrated
that the flow of electricity through silicon could
be selectively controlled. The subsequent
creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors enable today’s high-speed,
efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961) consist
of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and memory
chips built in layers on silicon wafers, then
exposed to a multi-step chemical process. In
1967, the first hand-held calculator is made
using an integrated circuit, a small electronic
device containing many transistors and other
electronic components. In the 1980s, integrated
circuits are applied to computers.

Silicon chip

The first
integrated circuit

II.2. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies

Dramatic improvements have been made
in computer display technology in recent
years. High-resolution color graphics
screens are mainly based on the
television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen
displays for laptop and notebook
computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD)
based on organic chemicals were invented
in 1969. Today’s subsequent development
is a thin-film transistors liquid crystal
display in which each picture elements is
driven by its own individual transistors.
Chemists have developed liquid crystal
materials, color filters, polymer alignment
layers, molded-plastic light distribution
sheets, and plasma display technology.
Camera Obscura

II.2. Computer Technology
Information storage

Information must be recorded so that it can be
retrieved at a later time if it is to be used and
manipulated fully. Chemistry innovations have
ensured that the media for such recordings has
remained
high-quality,
easy-to-use,
and
inexpensive.
Breakthroughs
in
recording
capabilities (higher resolution, faster speed, and
color), photographic films, magnetic audio
recordings, and digital imaging have also
brought advances in recording devices. In 1955,
Reynold Johnson, an American inventor and
computer pioneer developed the first disk drive
to store computerized data. Many subsequent
advances were made, especially with computer
disks, magnetic tapes, and CD-ROMs (1984).
Early disk drive

II.2. Computer Technology
Communications satellites

Until the 1960s, voice communications
between North America and other continents
were very expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the
world’s first active communications satellite,
was sent into orbit. Chemistry enhanced the
structural materials (metal alloys, plastic, and
other advanced materials), computer and
electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these
satellites. Communications satellites played
a major role in expanding both international
and domestic long distance calling and
television transmission until the 1990s.
Today, communications satellites play an
increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite
dishes with digital television.

Telstar

Manufacturing of
GPS satellites
GPS satellites on
orbit

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies

In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first
feature-length movie to synchronize
singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s,
processes of the firm Technicolor had
been refined and the first color features
were a big draw. The chemistry of film
required a series of breakthroughs
involving
basic
materials,
different
chemical solutions, and exposure to light.

The showbill of the first feature-length
movie, The Jazz Singer, with
synchronized singing and dialogue

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Television

The Scotman John Logie Baird
displayed television publicly for the first
time in London, 1926, using mechanical
television system, the Nipkow disc,
patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth
transmitted
the
first
television image using cathode ray tube
(invented in 1897). The next twenty
years was the era of the vacuum tube in
electronics, and chemistry contributed
the unique materials for electrodes and
control elements within the tube. By the
1950s, many innovations were made,
including the integrated circuit in 1958.
The following decades brought solidstate imaging devices, miniaturization,
and varied electronic improvements.

The Nipkow disc and its inventor Paul Nipkow

Philo T. Farnsworth and
the cathode ray tube

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Photography

Photography
and
films
technology enables us to record
the most important experiences
and people in our lives.
Chemistry developed the film for
all types of cameras with
breakthroughs involving basic
materials, different chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
Battery improvements have also
contributed to the popularity of
the camera, including the 1950s
alkaline manganese batteries
that were tremendously popular
in small cameras with built-in
flash unit. Being able to
manipulate film, electronics, and
batteries led to the 1963
introduction of Eastman Kodak’s
popular Instamatic camera with
film cartridge that was sold over
50 millions by 1970.

Kodak-Instamatic

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics

Electronic materials and microelectronic devices
are the heart of countless modern products,
such as CD players, televisions, computers, and
wireless devices. From vacuum tubes to
transistors to integrated circuits, chemical
engineers have made electronics smaller, more
powerful, energy-efficient, and cheaper. New
materials, processes for producing highly
purified materials, and processes for building
semiconductors have resulted in components,
such as transistors and integrated circuits, which
can be assembled into complex electronic
circuitry to provide new capabilities to a wide
range of electronic devices.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Advanced synthetic materials

Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and
personal computers rely on though, durable,
non-conducting plastics to protect sensitive
electronic components. Plastics are essential
in electronic applications because of their
insulating properties; the flow of electrons
that make up electrical currents cannot
readily
penetrate
plastics’
molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of
molecules and creating new ones, chemists
and engineers are producing new materials
that are both strong and flexible. These
advances have improved impact resistance,
reduced the total weight of equipment, and
reduced the cost of consumer goods.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Transistors

It was the tiny, reliable electronic
component called a transistor that
enabled the marriage of computers
and communication more than any
other single development. In 1947,
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William
Shockley
invented
the
transistor, and it gradually replaced the
bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had
been amplifying and switching signals.
The transistor and the subsequent
integrated circuits (that contains
millions of transistors) served as the
foundation for the development of
modern electronics. By 1954, the
wildly popular transistor radio was
introduced, and by 1958, an American
electrical engineer, Seymour Cray
developed a transistorized computer.

The first transistor
The inventors of
transistor


Slide 9

TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES FROM THE CHEMIST’S VIEW
II. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Innovations in chemistry, engineering, and
electronics from the end of the nineteenth century
until today have helped us to keep contact at any
site of the world.
The lifestyle of the humanity has been radically
changed in the last century, from rural to urban life,
from education for the elite to education for the
masses, from agriculture to research work. The
subsequent flow of people, information, new ideas,
and materials has brought significant social change.
Numerous results of chemistry have contributed to
the development of many communication tools that
we need in order to capture, store, and distribute
information. Wireless communications and fiber
optics serve our internet society. Silicon chemistry
and high-performance polymers make today’s
computer microprocessors possible. Movies,
television, and photography all rely on chemistry to
help preserve our memories.
Scientific achievements of chemists contribute to
keep contact by remote family members with each
other.

Chronology
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Wireless communications
Facsimile technology and xerography
Laser and fiber optics
II. 2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Semiconductor technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
Monitor and display technologies
Information storage
Communications satellites
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
Television
Photography
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Transistors

Technology Milestones in Information and Communications
Chronology

1876 Alexander Graham Bell completes the first telephone call.
1926 The Warner brothers make the first movie to synchronize music and audio effects.
1926 The first two-way voice conversation is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts first television image using a cathode ray tube.
1946 ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, is put into operation. Since 1944 the Hungarian-born John von Neumann took
part in the modification of some mathematical-logical details of ENIAC.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1955 Reynold Johnson develops the first disk drive.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1961 Silicon chips first appear.

1961 Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite, is sent into orbit.
1961 The firm Eastman Kodak introduces the popular Instamatic camera with film cartridge.
1971 Intel company introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor for consumer use.
1977 Town Chicago tests the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.
1983 Cellular phones become popular after the automatic switching of wireless communications through a series of cells was
discovered.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc-read-only memory) is introduced along with its companion compact disc (CD) player.

II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone

Since Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876,
it has become a cornerstone of
modern life by offering nearly
instant connections around the
world. The first two-way voice
conversation was transmitted
across the Atlantic Ocean in
1926,
and
commercial
telephone service (using radio)
began between New York and
London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service
in 1935. Transoceanic phone
service was eventually handled
by submarine cables in 1956
and since 1962 communications
satellites. Today’s chemical
engineers have brought us from
copper wire to fiber optics, from
switchboards to satellites, and
from party lines to the Internet.

A. Graham Bell

II. 1. Communications Advances
Wireless communications

Cellular phones and pagers depend on
printed and integrated circuits, advanced
materials, and miniaturization techniques
enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs
developed mobile car telephones in the
1940s, but they were unpopular due to a
lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when
wireless communications were divided
into a series of cells that automatically
switched callers as they moved so that
each cell could be reused. Cellular phones
quickly became popular. Chemistry has
also played a role in the development of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in
cellular phones.

Switchboard

II. 1. Communications Advances
Facsimile technology and xerography

Although Arthur Korn, the German
inventor transmitted first pictures
electronically in 1902, the first
functioning fax machine debuted in
1924 that adapted telephone circuits
for
picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into
electrical signals that indicated the
shades of the image. This data was
transmitted by telephone onto a
receiving sheet of photographic
negative film and then developed in a
darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced to allow an
exact replication of an image to be
made. Chemical innovations in
facsimile technology include new
toners and inks, advanced paper
technology, and organic photoreceptor
technology in the 1970s.

Telephotography

II. 1. Communications Advances
Laser and fiber optics

Pure glass fibers now provide the infrastructure
to carry information via laser-produced light in a
revolutionary technical achievement. Chemical
researchers invented the first optical fiber in
1970. Once fiber optics were fabricated and
installed as integrated components. The first
lightwave system was installed in 1977 to
provide voice, data, and video service over a
network. Today, a single fiber-optic cable can
transmit millions of phone calls, data files, and
video images.

Installation fiber optics in
Chicago downtown (1977)

II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers

Chemical engineering has fueled the computing
revolution and continues to make computers faster,
powerful, and affordable. In 1939, the first electronic
computer is invented at Iowa State University.
Programmable calculators with binary numbers and
Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In 1946,
ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, goes into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuts in 1962. By
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4bit microprocessor for consumer use and the personal
computer market exploded. Today’s innovations continue
with transistors, silicon chips, integrated components,
data storage devices, and advanced materials.

John von Neumann and the
ENIAC

II.2. Computer Technology
Semiconductor technology

Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s
computers, appliances, and communication devices.
Semiconductors, opposite to metals, are a class of
materials that increase their conductivity by elevated
temperatures. These semiconductors are further
treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made
from semiconductors materials. Semiconductors
enable electronic components to be smaller, faster,
and more energy-efficient. Chemists in the
semiconductor industry provide quality control of
components,
optimization
processes,
troubleshooting, and innovations to microelectronic
devices.

A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)

An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)

II.2. Computer Technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits

In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William
Shockley, and Walter Brattain demonstrated
that the flow of electricity through silicon could
be selectively controlled. The subsequent
creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors enable today’s high-speed,
efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961) consist
of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and memory
chips built in layers on silicon wafers, then
exposed to a multi-step chemical process. In
1967, the first hand-held calculator is made
using an integrated circuit, a small electronic
device containing many transistors and other
electronic components. In the 1980s, integrated
circuits are applied to computers.

Silicon chip

The first
integrated circuit

II.2. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies

Dramatic improvements have been made
in computer display technology in recent
years. High-resolution color graphics
screens are mainly based on the
television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen
displays for laptop and notebook
computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD)
based on organic chemicals were invented
in 1969. Today’s subsequent development
is a thin-film transistors liquid crystal
display in which each picture elements is
driven by its own individual transistors.
Chemists have developed liquid crystal
materials, color filters, polymer alignment
layers, molded-plastic light distribution
sheets, and plasma display technology.
Camera Obscura

II.2. Computer Technology
Information storage

Information must be recorded so that it can be
retrieved at a later time if it is to be used and
manipulated fully. Chemistry innovations have
ensured that the media for such recordings has
remained
high-quality,
easy-to-use,
and
inexpensive.
Breakthroughs
in
recording
capabilities (higher resolution, faster speed, and
color), photographic films, magnetic audio
recordings, and digital imaging have also
brought advances in recording devices. In 1955,
Reynold Johnson, an American inventor and
computer pioneer developed the first disk drive
to store computerized data. Many subsequent
advances were made, especially with computer
disks, magnetic tapes, and CD-ROMs (1984).
Early disk drive

II.2. Computer Technology
Communications satellites

Until the 1960s, voice communications
between North America and other continents
were very expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the
world’s first active communications satellite,
was sent into orbit. Chemistry enhanced the
structural materials (metal alloys, plastic, and
other advanced materials), computer and
electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these
satellites. Communications satellites played
a major role in expanding both international
and domestic long distance calling and
television transmission until the 1990s.
Today, communications satellites play an
increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite
dishes with digital television.

Telstar

Manufacturing of
GPS satellites
GPS satellites on
orbit

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies

In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first
feature-length movie to synchronize
singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s,
processes of the firm Technicolor had
been refined and the first color features
were a big draw. The chemistry of film
required a series of breakthroughs
involving
basic
materials,
different
chemical solutions, and exposure to light.

The showbill of the first feature-length
movie, The Jazz Singer, with
synchronized singing and dialogue

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Television

The Scotman John Logie Baird
displayed television publicly for the first
time in London, 1926, using mechanical
television system, the Nipkow disc,
patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth
transmitted
the
first
television image using cathode ray tube
(invented in 1897). The next twenty
years was the era of the vacuum tube in
electronics, and chemistry contributed
the unique materials for electrodes and
control elements within the tube. By the
1950s, many innovations were made,
including the integrated circuit in 1958.
The following decades brought solidstate imaging devices, miniaturization,
and varied electronic improvements.

The Nipkow disc and its inventor Paul Nipkow

Philo T. Farnsworth and
the cathode ray tube

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Photography

Photography
and
films
technology enables us to record
the most important experiences
and people in our lives.
Chemistry developed the film for
all types of cameras with
breakthroughs involving basic
materials, different chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
Battery improvements have also
contributed to the popularity of
the camera, including the 1950s
alkaline manganese batteries
that were tremendously popular
in small cameras with built-in
flash unit. Being able to
manipulate film, electronics, and
batteries led to the 1963
introduction of Eastman Kodak’s
popular Instamatic camera with
film cartridge that was sold over
50 millions by 1970.

Kodak-Instamatic

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics

Electronic materials and microelectronic devices
are the heart of countless modern products,
such as CD players, televisions, computers, and
wireless devices. From vacuum tubes to
transistors to integrated circuits, chemical
engineers have made electronics smaller, more
powerful, energy-efficient, and cheaper. New
materials, processes for producing highly
purified materials, and processes for building
semiconductors have resulted in components,
such as transistors and integrated circuits, which
can be assembled into complex electronic
circuitry to provide new capabilities to a wide
range of electronic devices.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Advanced synthetic materials

Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and
personal computers rely on though, durable,
non-conducting plastics to protect sensitive
electronic components. Plastics are essential
in electronic applications because of their
insulating properties; the flow of electrons
that make up electrical currents cannot
readily
penetrate
plastics’
molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of
molecules and creating new ones, chemists
and engineers are producing new materials
that are both strong and flexible. These
advances have improved impact resistance,
reduced the total weight of equipment, and
reduced the cost of consumer goods.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Transistors

It was the tiny, reliable electronic
component called a transistor that
enabled the marriage of computers
and communication more than any
other single development. In 1947,
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William
Shockley
invented
the
transistor, and it gradually replaced the
bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had
been amplifying and switching signals.
The transistor and the subsequent
integrated circuits (that contains
millions of transistors) served as the
foundation for the development of
modern electronics. By 1954, the
wildly popular transistor radio was
introduced, and by 1958, an American
electrical engineer, Seymour Cray
developed a transistorized computer.

The first transistor
The inventors of
transistor


Slide 10

TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES FROM THE CHEMIST’S VIEW
II. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Innovations in chemistry, engineering, and
electronics from the end of the nineteenth century
until today have helped us to keep contact at any
site of the world.
The lifestyle of the humanity has been radically
changed in the last century, from rural to urban life,
from education for the elite to education for the
masses, from agriculture to research work. The
subsequent flow of people, information, new ideas,
and materials has brought significant social change.
Numerous results of chemistry have contributed to
the development of many communication tools that
we need in order to capture, store, and distribute
information. Wireless communications and fiber
optics serve our internet society. Silicon chemistry
and high-performance polymers make today’s
computer microprocessors possible. Movies,
television, and photography all rely on chemistry to
help preserve our memories.
Scientific achievements of chemists contribute to
keep contact by remote family members with each
other.

Chronology
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Wireless communications
Facsimile technology and xerography
Laser and fiber optics
II. 2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Semiconductor technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
Monitor and display technologies
Information storage
Communications satellites
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
Television
Photography
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Transistors

Technology Milestones in Information and Communications
Chronology

1876 Alexander Graham Bell completes the first telephone call.
1926 The Warner brothers make the first movie to synchronize music and audio effects.
1926 The first two-way voice conversation is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts first television image using a cathode ray tube.
1946 ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, is put into operation. Since 1944 the Hungarian-born John von Neumann took
part in the modification of some mathematical-logical details of ENIAC.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1955 Reynold Johnson develops the first disk drive.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1961 Silicon chips first appear.

1961 Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite, is sent into orbit.
1961 The firm Eastman Kodak introduces the popular Instamatic camera with film cartridge.
1971 Intel company introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor for consumer use.
1977 Town Chicago tests the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.
1983 Cellular phones become popular after the automatic switching of wireless communications through a series of cells was
discovered.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc-read-only memory) is introduced along with its companion compact disc (CD) player.

II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone

Since Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876,
it has become a cornerstone of
modern life by offering nearly
instant connections around the
world. The first two-way voice
conversation was transmitted
across the Atlantic Ocean in
1926,
and
commercial
telephone service (using radio)
began between New York and
London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service
in 1935. Transoceanic phone
service was eventually handled
by submarine cables in 1956
and since 1962 communications
satellites. Today’s chemical
engineers have brought us from
copper wire to fiber optics, from
switchboards to satellites, and
from party lines to the Internet.

A. Graham Bell

II. 1. Communications Advances
Wireless communications

Cellular phones and pagers depend on
printed and integrated circuits, advanced
materials, and miniaturization techniques
enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs
developed mobile car telephones in the
1940s, but they were unpopular due to a
lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when
wireless communications were divided
into a series of cells that automatically
switched callers as they moved so that
each cell could be reused. Cellular phones
quickly became popular. Chemistry has
also played a role in the development of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in
cellular phones.

Switchboard

II. 1. Communications Advances
Facsimile technology and xerography

Although Arthur Korn, the German
inventor transmitted first pictures
electronically in 1902, the first
functioning fax machine debuted in
1924 that adapted telephone circuits
for
picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into
electrical signals that indicated the
shades of the image. This data was
transmitted by telephone onto a
receiving sheet of photographic
negative film and then developed in a
darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced to allow an
exact replication of an image to be
made. Chemical innovations in
facsimile technology include new
toners and inks, advanced paper
technology, and organic photoreceptor
technology in the 1970s.

Telephotography

II. 1. Communications Advances
Laser and fiber optics

Pure glass fibers now provide the infrastructure
to carry information via laser-produced light in a
revolutionary technical achievement. Chemical
researchers invented the first optical fiber in
1970. Once fiber optics were fabricated and
installed as integrated components. The first
lightwave system was installed in 1977 to
provide voice, data, and video service over a
network. Today, a single fiber-optic cable can
transmit millions of phone calls, data files, and
video images.

Installation fiber optics in
Chicago downtown (1977)

II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers

Chemical engineering has fueled the computing
revolution and continues to make computers faster,
powerful, and affordable. In 1939, the first electronic
computer is invented at Iowa State University.
Programmable calculators with binary numbers and
Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In 1946,
ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, goes into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuts in 1962. By
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4bit microprocessor for consumer use and the personal
computer market exploded. Today’s innovations continue
with transistors, silicon chips, integrated components,
data storage devices, and advanced materials.

John von Neumann and the
ENIAC

II.2. Computer Technology
Semiconductor technology

Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s
computers, appliances, and communication devices.
Semiconductors, opposite to metals, are a class of
materials that increase their conductivity by elevated
temperatures. These semiconductors are further
treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made
from semiconductors materials. Semiconductors
enable electronic components to be smaller, faster,
and more energy-efficient. Chemists in the
semiconductor industry provide quality control of
components,
optimization
processes,
troubleshooting, and innovations to microelectronic
devices.

A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)

An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)

II.2. Computer Technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits

In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William
Shockley, and Walter Brattain demonstrated
that the flow of electricity through silicon could
be selectively controlled. The subsequent
creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors enable today’s high-speed,
efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961) consist
of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and memory
chips built in layers on silicon wafers, then
exposed to a multi-step chemical process. In
1967, the first hand-held calculator is made
using an integrated circuit, a small electronic
device containing many transistors and other
electronic components. In the 1980s, integrated
circuits are applied to computers.

Silicon chip

The first
integrated circuit

II.2. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies

Dramatic improvements have been made
in computer display technology in recent
years. High-resolution color graphics
screens are mainly based on the
television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen
displays for laptop and notebook
computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD)
based on organic chemicals were invented
in 1969. Today’s subsequent development
is a thin-film transistors liquid crystal
display in which each picture elements is
driven by its own individual transistors.
Chemists have developed liquid crystal
materials, color filters, polymer alignment
layers, molded-plastic light distribution
sheets, and plasma display technology.
Camera Obscura

II.2. Computer Technology
Information storage

Information must be recorded so that it can be
retrieved at a later time if it is to be used and
manipulated fully. Chemistry innovations have
ensured that the media for such recordings has
remained
high-quality,
easy-to-use,
and
inexpensive.
Breakthroughs
in
recording
capabilities (higher resolution, faster speed, and
color), photographic films, magnetic audio
recordings, and digital imaging have also
brought advances in recording devices. In 1955,
Reynold Johnson, an American inventor and
computer pioneer developed the first disk drive
to store computerized data. Many subsequent
advances were made, especially with computer
disks, magnetic tapes, and CD-ROMs (1984).
Early disk drive

II.2. Computer Technology
Communications satellites

Until the 1960s, voice communications
between North America and other continents
were very expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the
world’s first active communications satellite,
was sent into orbit. Chemistry enhanced the
structural materials (metal alloys, plastic, and
other advanced materials), computer and
electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these
satellites. Communications satellites played
a major role in expanding both international
and domestic long distance calling and
television transmission until the 1990s.
Today, communications satellites play an
increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite
dishes with digital television.

Telstar

Manufacturing of
GPS satellites
GPS satellites on
orbit

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies

In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first
feature-length movie to synchronize
singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s,
processes of the firm Technicolor had
been refined and the first color features
were a big draw. The chemistry of film
required a series of breakthroughs
involving
basic
materials,
different
chemical solutions, and exposure to light.

The showbill of the first feature-length
movie, The Jazz Singer, with
synchronized singing and dialogue

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Television

The Scotman John Logie Baird
displayed television publicly for the first
time in London, 1926, using mechanical
television system, the Nipkow disc,
patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth
transmitted
the
first
television image using cathode ray tube
(invented in 1897). The next twenty
years was the era of the vacuum tube in
electronics, and chemistry contributed
the unique materials for electrodes and
control elements within the tube. By the
1950s, many innovations were made,
including the integrated circuit in 1958.
The following decades brought solidstate imaging devices, miniaturization,
and varied electronic improvements.

The Nipkow disc and its inventor Paul Nipkow

Philo T. Farnsworth and
the cathode ray tube

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Photography

Photography
and
films
technology enables us to record
the most important experiences
and people in our lives.
Chemistry developed the film for
all types of cameras with
breakthroughs involving basic
materials, different chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
Battery improvements have also
contributed to the popularity of
the camera, including the 1950s
alkaline manganese batteries
that were tremendously popular
in small cameras with built-in
flash unit. Being able to
manipulate film, electronics, and
batteries led to the 1963
introduction of Eastman Kodak’s
popular Instamatic camera with
film cartridge that was sold over
50 millions by 1970.

Kodak-Instamatic

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics

Electronic materials and microelectronic devices
are the heart of countless modern products,
such as CD players, televisions, computers, and
wireless devices. From vacuum tubes to
transistors to integrated circuits, chemical
engineers have made electronics smaller, more
powerful, energy-efficient, and cheaper. New
materials, processes for producing highly
purified materials, and processes for building
semiconductors have resulted in components,
such as transistors and integrated circuits, which
can be assembled into complex electronic
circuitry to provide new capabilities to a wide
range of electronic devices.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Advanced synthetic materials

Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and
personal computers rely on though, durable,
non-conducting plastics to protect sensitive
electronic components. Plastics are essential
in electronic applications because of their
insulating properties; the flow of electrons
that make up electrical currents cannot
readily
penetrate
plastics’
molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of
molecules and creating new ones, chemists
and engineers are producing new materials
that are both strong and flexible. These
advances have improved impact resistance,
reduced the total weight of equipment, and
reduced the cost of consumer goods.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Transistors

It was the tiny, reliable electronic
component called a transistor that
enabled the marriage of computers
and communication more than any
other single development. In 1947,
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William
Shockley
invented
the
transistor, and it gradually replaced the
bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had
been amplifying and switching signals.
The transistor and the subsequent
integrated circuits (that contains
millions of transistors) served as the
foundation for the development of
modern electronics. By 1954, the
wildly popular transistor radio was
introduced, and by 1958, an American
electrical engineer, Seymour Cray
developed a transistorized computer.

The first transistor
The inventors of
transistor


Slide 11

TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES FROM THE CHEMIST’S VIEW
II. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Innovations in chemistry, engineering, and
electronics from the end of the nineteenth century
until today have helped us to keep contact at any
site of the world.
The lifestyle of the humanity has been radically
changed in the last century, from rural to urban life,
from education for the elite to education for the
masses, from agriculture to research work. The
subsequent flow of people, information, new ideas,
and materials has brought significant social change.
Numerous results of chemistry have contributed to
the development of many communication tools that
we need in order to capture, store, and distribute
information. Wireless communications and fiber
optics serve our internet society. Silicon chemistry
and high-performance polymers make today’s
computer microprocessors possible. Movies,
television, and photography all rely on chemistry to
help preserve our memories.
Scientific achievements of chemists contribute to
keep contact by remote family members with each
other.

Chronology
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Wireless communications
Facsimile technology and xerography
Laser and fiber optics
II. 2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Semiconductor technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
Monitor and display technologies
Information storage
Communications satellites
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
Television
Photography
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Transistors

Technology Milestones in Information and Communications
Chronology

1876 Alexander Graham Bell completes the first telephone call.
1926 The Warner brothers make the first movie to synchronize music and audio effects.
1926 The first two-way voice conversation is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts first television image using a cathode ray tube.
1946 ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, is put into operation. Since 1944 the Hungarian-born John von Neumann took
part in the modification of some mathematical-logical details of ENIAC.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1955 Reynold Johnson develops the first disk drive.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1961 Silicon chips first appear.

1961 Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite, is sent into orbit.
1961 The firm Eastman Kodak introduces the popular Instamatic camera with film cartridge.
1971 Intel company introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor for consumer use.
1977 Town Chicago tests the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.
1983 Cellular phones become popular after the automatic switching of wireless communications through a series of cells was
discovered.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc-read-only memory) is introduced along with its companion compact disc (CD) player.

II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone

Since Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876,
it has become a cornerstone of
modern life by offering nearly
instant connections around the
world. The first two-way voice
conversation was transmitted
across the Atlantic Ocean in
1926,
and
commercial
telephone service (using radio)
began between New York and
London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service
in 1935. Transoceanic phone
service was eventually handled
by submarine cables in 1956
and since 1962 communications
satellites. Today’s chemical
engineers have brought us from
copper wire to fiber optics, from
switchboards to satellites, and
from party lines to the Internet.

A. Graham Bell

II. 1. Communications Advances
Wireless communications

Cellular phones and pagers depend on
printed and integrated circuits, advanced
materials, and miniaturization techniques
enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs
developed mobile car telephones in the
1940s, but they were unpopular due to a
lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when
wireless communications were divided
into a series of cells that automatically
switched callers as they moved so that
each cell could be reused. Cellular phones
quickly became popular. Chemistry has
also played a role in the development of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in
cellular phones.

Switchboard

II. 1. Communications Advances
Facsimile technology and xerography

Although Arthur Korn, the German
inventor transmitted first pictures
electronically in 1902, the first
functioning fax machine debuted in
1924 that adapted telephone circuits
for
picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into
electrical signals that indicated the
shades of the image. This data was
transmitted by telephone onto a
receiving sheet of photographic
negative film and then developed in a
darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced to allow an
exact replication of an image to be
made. Chemical innovations in
facsimile technology include new
toners and inks, advanced paper
technology, and organic photoreceptor
technology in the 1970s.

Telephotography

II. 1. Communications Advances
Laser and fiber optics

Pure glass fibers now provide the infrastructure
to carry information via laser-produced light in a
revolutionary technical achievement. Chemical
researchers invented the first optical fiber in
1970. Once fiber optics were fabricated and
installed as integrated components. The first
lightwave system was installed in 1977 to
provide voice, data, and video service over a
network. Today, a single fiber-optic cable can
transmit millions of phone calls, data files, and
video images.

Installation fiber optics in
Chicago downtown (1977)

II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers

Chemical engineering has fueled the computing
revolution and continues to make computers faster,
powerful, and affordable. In 1939, the first electronic
computer is invented at Iowa State University.
Programmable calculators with binary numbers and
Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In 1946,
ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, goes into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuts in 1962. By
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4bit microprocessor for consumer use and the personal
computer market exploded. Today’s innovations continue
with transistors, silicon chips, integrated components,
data storage devices, and advanced materials.

John von Neumann and the
ENIAC

II.2. Computer Technology
Semiconductor technology

Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s
computers, appliances, and communication devices.
Semiconductors, opposite to metals, are a class of
materials that increase their conductivity by elevated
temperatures. These semiconductors are further
treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made
from semiconductors materials. Semiconductors
enable electronic components to be smaller, faster,
and more energy-efficient. Chemists in the
semiconductor industry provide quality control of
components,
optimization
processes,
troubleshooting, and innovations to microelectronic
devices.

A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)

An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)

II.2. Computer Technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits

In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William
Shockley, and Walter Brattain demonstrated
that the flow of electricity through silicon could
be selectively controlled. The subsequent
creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors enable today’s high-speed,
efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961) consist
of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and memory
chips built in layers on silicon wafers, then
exposed to a multi-step chemical process. In
1967, the first hand-held calculator is made
using an integrated circuit, a small electronic
device containing many transistors and other
electronic components. In the 1980s, integrated
circuits are applied to computers.

Silicon chip

The first
integrated circuit

II.2. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies

Dramatic improvements have been made
in computer display technology in recent
years. High-resolution color graphics
screens are mainly based on the
television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen
displays for laptop and notebook
computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD)
based on organic chemicals were invented
in 1969. Today’s subsequent development
is a thin-film transistors liquid crystal
display in which each picture elements is
driven by its own individual transistors.
Chemists have developed liquid crystal
materials, color filters, polymer alignment
layers, molded-plastic light distribution
sheets, and plasma display technology.
Camera Obscura

II.2. Computer Technology
Information storage

Information must be recorded so that it can be
retrieved at a later time if it is to be used and
manipulated fully. Chemistry innovations have
ensured that the media for such recordings has
remained
high-quality,
easy-to-use,
and
inexpensive.
Breakthroughs
in
recording
capabilities (higher resolution, faster speed, and
color), photographic films, magnetic audio
recordings, and digital imaging have also
brought advances in recording devices. In 1955,
Reynold Johnson, an American inventor and
computer pioneer developed the first disk drive
to store computerized data. Many subsequent
advances were made, especially with computer
disks, magnetic tapes, and CD-ROMs (1984).
Early disk drive

II.2. Computer Technology
Communications satellites

Until the 1960s, voice communications
between North America and other continents
were very expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the
world’s first active communications satellite,
was sent into orbit. Chemistry enhanced the
structural materials (metal alloys, plastic, and
other advanced materials), computer and
electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these
satellites. Communications satellites played
a major role in expanding both international
and domestic long distance calling and
television transmission until the 1990s.
Today, communications satellites play an
increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite
dishes with digital television.

Telstar

Manufacturing of
GPS satellites
GPS satellites on
orbit

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies

In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first
feature-length movie to synchronize
singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s,
processes of the firm Technicolor had
been refined and the first color features
were a big draw. The chemistry of film
required a series of breakthroughs
involving
basic
materials,
different
chemical solutions, and exposure to light.

The showbill of the first feature-length
movie, The Jazz Singer, with
synchronized singing and dialogue

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Television

The Scotman John Logie Baird
displayed television publicly for the first
time in London, 1926, using mechanical
television system, the Nipkow disc,
patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth
transmitted
the
first
television image using cathode ray tube
(invented in 1897). The next twenty
years was the era of the vacuum tube in
electronics, and chemistry contributed
the unique materials for electrodes and
control elements within the tube. By the
1950s, many innovations were made,
including the integrated circuit in 1958.
The following decades brought solidstate imaging devices, miniaturization,
and varied electronic improvements.

The Nipkow disc and its inventor Paul Nipkow

Philo T. Farnsworth and
the cathode ray tube

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Photography

Photography
and
films
technology enables us to record
the most important experiences
and people in our lives.
Chemistry developed the film for
all types of cameras with
breakthroughs involving basic
materials, different chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
Battery improvements have also
contributed to the popularity of
the camera, including the 1950s
alkaline manganese batteries
that were tremendously popular
in small cameras with built-in
flash unit. Being able to
manipulate film, electronics, and
batteries led to the 1963
introduction of Eastman Kodak’s
popular Instamatic camera with
film cartridge that was sold over
50 millions by 1970.

Kodak-Instamatic

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics

Electronic materials and microelectronic devices
are the heart of countless modern products,
such as CD players, televisions, computers, and
wireless devices. From vacuum tubes to
transistors to integrated circuits, chemical
engineers have made electronics smaller, more
powerful, energy-efficient, and cheaper. New
materials, processes for producing highly
purified materials, and processes for building
semiconductors have resulted in components,
such as transistors and integrated circuits, which
can be assembled into complex electronic
circuitry to provide new capabilities to a wide
range of electronic devices.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Advanced synthetic materials

Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and
personal computers rely on though, durable,
non-conducting plastics to protect sensitive
electronic components. Plastics are essential
in electronic applications because of their
insulating properties; the flow of electrons
that make up electrical currents cannot
readily
penetrate
plastics’
molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of
molecules and creating new ones, chemists
and engineers are producing new materials
that are both strong and flexible. These
advances have improved impact resistance,
reduced the total weight of equipment, and
reduced the cost of consumer goods.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Transistors

It was the tiny, reliable electronic
component called a transistor that
enabled the marriage of computers
and communication more than any
other single development. In 1947,
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William
Shockley
invented
the
transistor, and it gradually replaced the
bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had
been amplifying and switching signals.
The transistor and the subsequent
integrated circuits (that contains
millions of transistors) served as the
foundation for the development of
modern electronics. By 1954, the
wildly popular transistor radio was
introduced, and by 1958, an American
electrical engineer, Seymour Cray
developed a transistorized computer.

The first transistor
The inventors of
transistor


Slide 12

TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES FROM THE CHEMIST’S VIEW
II. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Innovations in chemistry, engineering, and
electronics from the end of the nineteenth century
until today have helped us to keep contact at any
site of the world.
The lifestyle of the humanity has been radically
changed in the last century, from rural to urban life,
from education for the elite to education for the
masses, from agriculture to research work. The
subsequent flow of people, information, new ideas,
and materials has brought significant social change.
Numerous results of chemistry have contributed to
the development of many communication tools that
we need in order to capture, store, and distribute
information. Wireless communications and fiber
optics serve our internet society. Silicon chemistry
and high-performance polymers make today’s
computer microprocessors possible. Movies,
television, and photography all rely on chemistry to
help preserve our memories.
Scientific achievements of chemists contribute to
keep contact by remote family members with each
other.

Chronology
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Wireless communications
Facsimile technology and xerography
Laser and fiber optics
II. 2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Semiconductor technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
Monitor and display technologies
Information storage
Communications satellites
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
Television
Photography
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Transistors

Technology Milestones in Information and Communications
Chronology

1876 Alexander Graham Bell completes the first telephone call.
1926 The Warner brothers make the first movie to synchronize music and audio effects.
1926 The first two-way voice conversation is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts first television image using a cathode ray tube.
1946 ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, is put into operation. Since 1944 the Hungarian-born John von Neumann took
part in the modification of some mathematical-logical details of ENIAC.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1955 Reynold Johnson develops the first disk drive.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1961 Silicon chips first appear.

1961 Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite, is sent into orbit.
1961 The firm Eastman Kodak introduces the popular Instamatic camera with film cartridge.
1971 Intel company introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor for consumer use.
1977 Town Chicago tests the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.
1983 Cellular phones become popular after the automatic switching of wireless communications through a series of cells was
discovered.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc-read-only memory) is introduced along with its companion compact disc (CD) player.

II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone

Since Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876,
it has become a cornerstone of
modern life by offering nearly
instant connections around the
world. The first two-way voice
conversation was transmitted
across the Atlantic Ocean in
1926,
and
commercial
telephone service (using radio)
began between New York and
London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service
in 1935. Transoceanic phone
service was eventually handled
by submarine cables in 1956
and since 1962 communications
satellites. Today’s chemical
engineers have brought us from
copper wire to fiber optics, from
switchboards to satellites, and
from party lines to the Internet.

A. Graham Bell

II. 1. Communications Advances
Wireless communications

Cellular phones and pagers depend on
printed and integrated circuits, advanced
materials, and miniaturization techniques
enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs
developed mobile car telephones in the
1940s, but they were unpopular due to a
lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when
wireless communications were divided
into a series of cells that automatically
switched callers as they moved so that
each cell could be reused. Cellular phones
quickly became popular. Chemistry has
also played a role in the development of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in
cellular phones.

Switchboard

II. 1. Communications Advances
Facsimile technology and xerography

Although Arthur Korn, the German
inventor transmitted first pictures
electronically in 1902, the first
functioning fax machine debuted in
1924 that adapted telephone circuits
for
picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into
electrical signals that indicated the
shades of the image. This data was
transmitted by telephone onto a
receiving sheet of photographic
negative film and then developed in a
darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced to allow an
exact replication of an image to be
made. Chemical innovations in
facsimile technology include new
toners and inks, advanced paper
technology, and organic photoreceptor
technology in the 1970s.

Telephotography

II. 1. Communications Advances
Laser and fiber optics

Pure glass fibers now provide the infrastructure
to carry information via laser-produced light in a
revolutionary technical achievement. Chemical
researchers invented the first optical fiber in
1970. Once fiber optics were fabricated and
installed as integrated components. The first
lightwave system was installed in 1977 to
provide voice, data, and video service over a
network. Today, a single fiber-optic cable can
transmit millions of phone calls, data files, and
video images.

Installation fiber optics in
Chicago downtown (1977)

II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers

Chemical engineering has fueled the computing
revolution and continues to make computers faster,
powerful, and affordable. In 1939, the first electronic
computer is invented at Iowa State University.
Programmable calculators with binary numbers and
Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In 1946,
ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, goes into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuts in 1962. By
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4bit microprocessor for consumer use and the personal
computer market exploded. Today’s innovations continue
with transistors, silicon chips, integrated components,
data storage devices, and advanced materials.

John von Neumann and the
ENIAC

II.2. Computer Technology
Semiconductor technology

Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s
computers, appliances, and communication devices.
Semiconductors, opposite to metals, are a class of
materials that increase their conductivity by elevated
temperatures. These semiconductors are further
treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made
from semiconductors materials. Semiconductors
enable electronic components to be smaller, faster,
and more energy-efficient. Chemists in the
semiconductor industry provide quality control of
components,
optimization
processes,
troubleshooting, and innovations to microelectronic
devices.

A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)

An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)

II.2. Computer Technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits

In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William
Shockley, and Walter Brattain demonstrated
that the flow of electricity through silicon could
be selectively controlled. The subsequent
creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors enable today’s high-speed,
efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961) consist
of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and memory
chips built in layers on silicon wafers, then
exposed to a multi-step chemical process. In
1967, the first hand-held calculator is made
using an integrated circuit, a small electronic
device containing many transistors and other
electronic components. In the 1980s, integrated
circuits are applied to computers.

Silicon chip

The first
integrated circuit

II.2. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies

Dramatic improvements have been made
in computer display technology in recent
years. High-resolution color graphics
screens are mainly based on the
television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen
displays for laptop and notebook
computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD)
based on organic chemicals were invented
in 1969. Today’s subsequent development
is a thin-film transistors liquid crystal
display in which each picture elements is
driven by its own individual transistors.
Chemists have developed liquid crystal
materials, color filters, polymer alignment
layers, molded-plastic light distribution
sheets, and plasma display technology.
Camera Obscura

II.2. Computer Technology
Information storage

Information must be recorded so that it can be
retrieved at a later time if it is to be used and
manipulated fully. Chemistry innovations have
ensured that the media for such recordings has
remained
high-quality,
easy-to-use,
and
inexpensive.
Breakthroughs
in
recording
capabilities (higher resolution, faster speed, and
color), photographic films, magnetic audio
recordings, and digital imaging have also
brought advances in recording devices. In 1955,
Reynold Johnson, an American inventor and
computer pioneer developed the first disk drive
to store computerized data. Many subsequent
advances were made, especially with computer
disks, magnetic tapes, and CD-ROMs (1984).
Early disk drive

II.2. Computer Technology
Communications satellites

Until the 1960s, voice communications
between North America and other continents
were very expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the
world’s first active communications satellite,
was sent into orbit. Chemistry enhanced the
structural materials (metal alloys, plastic, and
other advanced materials), computer and
electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these
satellites. Communications satellites played
a major role in expanding both international
and domestic long distance calling and
television transmission until the 1990s.
Today, communications satellites play an
increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite
dishes with digital television.

Telstar

Manufacturing of
GPS satellites
GPS satellites on
orbit

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies

In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first
feature-length movie to synchronize
singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s,
processes of the firm Technicolor had
been refined and the first color features
were a big draw. The chemistry of film
required a series of breakthroughs
involving
basic
materials,
different
chemical solutions, and exposure to light.

The showbill of the first feature-length
movie, The Jazz Singer, with
synchronized singing and dialogue

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Television

The Scotman John Logie Baird
displayed television publicly for the first
time in London, 1926, using mechanical
television system, the Nipkow disc,
patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth
transmitted
the
first
television image using cathode ray tube
(invented in 1897). The next twenty
years was the era of the vacuum tube in
electronics, and chemistry contributed
the unique materials for electrodes and
control elements within the tube. By the
1950s, many innovations were made,
including the integrated circuit in 1958.
The following decades brought solidstate imaging devices, miniaturization,
and varied electronic improvements.

The Nipkow disc and its inventor Paul Nipkow

Philo T. Farnsworth and
the cathode ray tube

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Photography

Photography
and
films
technology enables us to record
the most important experiences
and people in our lives.
Chemistry developed the film for
all types of cameras with
breakthroughs involving basic
materials, different chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
Battery improvements have also
contributed to the popularity of
the camera, including the 1950s
alkaline manganese batteries
that were tremendously popular
in small cameras with built-in
flash unit. Being able to
manipulate film, electronics, and
batteries led to the 1963
introduction of Eastman Kodak’s
popular Instamatic camera with
film cartridge that was sold over
50 millions by 1970.

Kodak-Instamatic

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics

Electronic materials and microelectronic devices
are the heart of countless modern products,
such as CD players, televisions, computers, and
wireless devices. From vacuum tubes to
transistors to integrated circuits, chemical
engineers have made electronics smaller, more
powerful, energy-efficient, and cheaper. New
materials, processes for producing highly
purified materials, and processes for building
semiconductors have resulted in components,
such as transistors and integrated circuits, which
can be assembled into complex electronic
circuitry to provide new capabilities to a wide
range of electronic devices.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Advanced synthetic materials

Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and
personal computers rely on though, durable,
non-conducting plastics to protect sensitive
electronic components. Plastics are essential
in electronic applications because of their
insulating properties; the flow of electrons
that make up electrical currents cannot
readily
penetrate
plastics’
molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of
molecules and creating new ones, chemists
and engineers are producing new materials
that are both strong and flexible. These
advances have improved impact resistance,
reduced the total weight of equipment, and
reduced the cost of consumer goods.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Transistors

It was the tiny, reliable electronic
component called a transistor that
enabled the marriage of computers
and communication more than any
other single development. In 1947,
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William
Shockley
invented
the
transistor, and it gradually replaced the
bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had
been amplifying and switching signals.
The transistor and the subsequent
integrated circuits (that contains
millions of transistors) served as the
foundation for the development of
modern electronics. By 1954, the
wildly popular transistor radio was
introduced, and by 1958, an American
electrical engineer, Seymour Cray
developed a transistorized computer.

The first transistor
The inventors of
transistor


Slide 13

TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES FROM THE CHEMIST’S VIEW
II. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Innovations in chemistry, engineering, and
electronics from the end of the nineteenth century
until today have helped us to keep contact at any
site of the world.
The lifestyle of the humanity has been radically
changed in the last century, from rural to urban life,
from education for the elite to education for the
masses, from agriculture to research work. The
subsequent flow of people, information, new ideas,
and materials has brought significant social change.
Numerous results of chemistry have contributed to
the development of many communication tools that
we need in order to capture, store, and distribute
information. Wireless communications and fiber
optics serve our internet society. Silicon chemistry
and high-performance polymers make today’s
computer microprocessors possible. Movies,
television, and photography all rely on chemistry to
help preserve our memories.
Scientific achievements of chemists contribute to
keep contact by remote family members with each
other.

Chronology
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Wireless communications
Facsimile technology and xerography
Laser and fiber optics
II. 2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Semiconductor technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
Monitor and display technologies
Information storage
Communications satellites
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
Television
Photography
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Transistors

Technology Milestones in Information and Communications
Chronology

1876 Alexander Graham Bell completes the first telephone call.
1926 The Warner brothers make the first movie to synchronize music and audio effects.
1926 The first two-way voice conversation is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts first television image using a cathode ray tube.
1946 ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, is put into operation. Since 1944 the Hungarian-born John von Neumann took
part in the modification of some mathematical-logical details of ENIAC.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1955 Reynold Johnson develops the first disk drive.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1961 Silicon chips first appear.

1961 Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite, is sent into orbit.
1961 The firm Eastman Kodak introduces the popular Instamatic camera with film cartridge.
1971 Intel company introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor for consumer use.
1977 Town Chicago tests the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.
1983 Cellular phones become popular after the automatic switching of wireless communications through a series of cells was
discovered.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc-read-only memory) is introduced along with its companion compact disc (CD) player.

II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone

Since Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876,
it has become a cornerstone of
modern life by offering nearly
instant connections around the
world. The first two-way voice
conversation was transmitted
across the Atlantic Ocean in
1926,
and
commercial
telephone service (using radio)
began between New York and
London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service
in 1935. Transoceanic phone
service was eventually handled
by submarine cables in 1956
and since 1962 communications
satellites. Today’s chemical
engineers have brought us from
copper wire to fiber optics, from
switchboards to satellites, and
from party lines to the Internet.

A. Graham Bell

II. 1. Communications Advances
Wireless communications

Cellular phones and pagers depend on
printed and integrated circuits, advanced
materials, and miniaturization techniques
enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs
developed mobile car telephones in the
1940s, but they were unpopular due to a
lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when
wireless communications were divided
into a series of cells that automatically
switched callers as they moved so that
each cell could be reused. Cellular phones
quickly became popular. Chemistry has
also played a role in the development of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in
cellular phones.

Switchboard

II. 1. Communications Advances
Facsimile technology and xerography

Although Arthur Korn, the German
inventor transmitted first pictures
electronically in 1902, the first
functioning fax machine debuted in
1924 that adapted telephone circuits
for
picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into
electrical signals that indicated the
shades of the image. This data was
transmitted by telephone onto a
receiving sheet of photographic
negative film and then developed in a
darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced to allow an
exact replication of an image to be
made. Chemical innovations in
facsimile technology include new
toners and inks, advanced paper
technology, and organic photoreceptor
technology in the 1970s.

Telephotography

II. 1. Communications Advances
Laser and fiber optics

Pure glass fibers now provide the infrastructure
to carry information via laser-produced light in a
revolutionary technical achievement. Chemical
researchers invented the first optical fiber in
1970. Once fiber optics were fabricated and
installed as integrated components. The first
lightwave system was installed in 1977 to
provide voice, data, and video service over a
network. Today, a single fiber-optic cable can
transmit millions of phone calls, data files, and
video images.

Installation fiber optics in
Chicago downtown (1977)

II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers

Chemical engineering has fueled the computing
revolution and continues to make computers faster,
powerful, and affordable. In 1939, the first electronic
computer is invented at Iowa State University.
Programmable calculators with binary numbers and
Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In 1946,
ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, goes into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuts in 1962. By
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4bit microprocessor for consumer use and the personal
computer market exploded. Today’s innovations continue
with transistors, silicon chips, integrated components,
data storage devices, and advanced materials.

John von Neumann and the
ENIAC

II.2. Computer Technology
Semiconductor technology

Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s
computers, appliances, and communication devices.
Semiconductors, opposite to metals, are a class of
materials that increase their conductivity by elevated
temperatures. These semiconductors are further
treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made
from semiconductors materials. Semiconductors
enable electronic components to be smaller, faster,
and more energy-efficient. Chemists in the
semiconductor industry provide quality control of
components,
optimization
processes,
troubleshooting, and innovations to microelectronic
devices.

A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)

An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)

II.2. Computer Technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits

In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William
Shockley, and Walter Brattain demonstrated
that the flow of electricity through silicon could
be selectively controlled. The subsequent
creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors enable today’s high-speed,
efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961) consist
of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and memory
chips built in layers on silicon wafers, then
exposed to a multi-step chemical process. In
1967, the first hand-held calculator is made
using an integrated circuit, a small electronic
device containing many transistors and other
electronic components. In the 1980s, integrated
circuits are applied to computers.

Silicon chip

The first
integrated circuit

II.2. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies

Dramatic improvements have been made
in computer display technology in recent
years. High-resolution color graphics
screens are mainly based on the
television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen
displays for laptop and notebook
computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD)
based on organic chemicals were invented
in 1969. Today’s subsequent development
is a thin-film transistors liquid crystal
display in which each picture elements is
driven by its own individual transistors.
Chemists have developed liquid crystal
materials, color filters, polymer alignment
layers, molded-plastic light distribution
sheets, and plasma display technology.
Camera Obscura

II.2. Computer Technology
Information storage

Information must be recorded so that it can be
retrieved at a later time if it is to be used and
manipulated fully. Chemistry innovations have
ensured that the media for such recordings has
remained
high-quality,
easy-to-use,
and
inexpensive.
Breakthroughs
in
recording
capabilities (higher resolution, faster speed, and
color), photographic films, magnetic audio
recordings, and digital imaging have also
brought advances in recording devices. In 1955,
Reynold Johnson, an American inventor and
computer pioneer developed the first disk drive
to store computerized data. Many subsequent
advances were made, especially with computer
disks, magnetic tapes, and CD-ROMs (1984).
Early disk drive

II.2. Computer Technology
Communications satellites

Until the 1960s, voice communications
between North America and other continents
were very expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the
world’s first active communications satellite,
was sent into orbit. Chemistry enhanced the
structural materials (metal alloys, plastic, and
other advanced materials), computer and
electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these
satellites. Communications satellites played
a major role in expanding both international
and domestic long distance calling and
television transmission until the 1990s.
Today, communications satellites play an
increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite
dishes with digital television.

Telstar

Manufacturing of
GPS satellites
GPS satellites on
orbit

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies

In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first
feature-length movie to synchronize
singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s,
processes of the firm Technicolor had
been refined and the first color features
were a big draw. The chemistry of film
required a series of breakthroughs
involving
basic
materials,
different
chemical solutions, and exposure to light.

The showbill of the first feature-length
movie, The Jazz Singer, with
synchronized singing and dialogue

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Television

The Scotman John Logie Baird
displayed television publicly for the first
time in London, 1926, using mechanical
television system, the Nipkow disc,
patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth
transmitted
the
first
television image using cathode ray tube
(invented in 1897). The next twenty
years was the era of the vacuum tube in
electronics, and chemistry contributed
the unique materials for electrodes and
control elements within the tube. By the
1950s, many innovations were made,
including the integrated circuit in 1958.
The following decades brought solidstate imaging devices, miniaturization,
and varied electronic improvements.

The Nipkow disc and its inventor Paul Nipkow

Philo T. Farnsworth and
the cathode ray tube

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Photography

Photography
and
films
technology enables us to record
the most important experiences
and people in our lives.
Chemistry developed the film for
all types of cameras with
breakthroughs involving basic
materials, different chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
Battery improvements have also
contributed to the popularity of
the camera, including the 1950s
alkaline manganese batteries
that were tremendously popular
in small cameras with built-in
flash unit. Being able to
manipulate film, electronics, and
batteries led to the 1963
introduction of Eastman Kodak’s
popular Instamatic camera with
film cartridge that was sold over
50 millions by 1970.

Kodak-Instamatic

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics

Electronic materials and microelectronic devices
are the heart of countless modern products,
such as CD players, televisions, computers, and
wireless devices. From vacuum tubes to
transistors to integrated circuits, chemical
engineers have made electronics smaller, more
powerful, energy-efficient, and cheaper. New
materials, processes for producing highly
purified materials, and processes for building
semiconductors have resulted in components,
such as transistors and integrated circuits, which
can be assembled into complex electronic
circuitry to provide new capabilities to a wide
range of electronic devices.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Advanced synthetic materials

Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and
personal computers rely on though, durable,
non-conducting plastics to protect sensitive
electronic components. Plastics are essential
in electronic applications because of their
insulating properties; the flow of electrons
that make up electrical currents cannot
readily
penetrate
plastics’
molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of
molecules and creating new ones, chemists
and engineers are producing new materials
that are both strong and flexible. These
advances have improved impact resistance,
reduced the total weight of equipment, and
reduced the cost of consumer goods.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Transistors

It was the tiny, reliable electronic
component called a transistor that
enabled the marriage of computers
and communication more than any
other single development. In 1947,
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William
Shockley
invented
the
transistor, and it gradually replaced the
bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had
been amplifying and switching signals.
The transistor and the subsequent
integrated circuits (that contains
millions of transistors) served as the
foundation for the development of
modern electronics. By 1954, the
wildly popular transistor radio was
introduced, and by 1958, an American
electrical engineer, Seymour Cray
developed a transistorized computer.

The first transistor
The inventors of
transistor


Slide 14

TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES FROM THE CHEMIST’S VIEW
II. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Innovations in chemistry, engineering, and
electronics from the end of the nineteenth century
until today have helped us to keep contact at any
site of the world.
The lifestyle of the humanity has been radically
changed in the last century, from rural to urban life,
from education for the elite to education for the
masses, from agriculture to research work. The
subsequent flow of people, information, new ideas,
and materials has brought significant social change.
Numerous results of chemistry have contributed to
the development of many communication tools that
we need in order to capture, store, and distribute
information. Wireless communications and fiber
optics serve our internet society. Silicon chemistry
and high-performance polymers make today’s
computer microprocessors possible. Movies,
television, and photography all rely on chemistry to
help preserve our memories.
Scientific achievements of chemists contribute to
keep contact by remote family members with each
other.

Chronology
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Wireless communications
Facsimile technology and xerography
Laser and fiber optics
II. 2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Semiconductor technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
Monitor and display technologies
Information storage
Communications satellites
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
Television
Photography
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Transistors

Technology Milestones in Information and Communications
Chronology

1876 Alexander Graham Bell completes the first telephone call.
1926 The Warner brothers make the first movie to synchronize music and audio effects.
1926 The first two-way voice conversation is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts first television image using a cathode ray tube.
1946 ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, is put into operation. Since 1944 the Hungarian-born John von Neumann took
part in the modification of some mathematical-logical details of ENIAC.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1955 Reynold Johnson develops the first disk drive.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1961 Silicon chips first appear.

1961 Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite, is sent into orbit.
1961 The firm Eastman Kodak introduces the popular Instamatic camera with film cartridge.
1971 Intel company introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor for consumer use.
1977 Town Chicago tests the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.
1983 Cellular phones become popular after the automatic switching of wireless communications through a series of cells was
discovered.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc-read-only memory) is introduced along with its companion compact disc (CD) player.

II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone

Since Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876,
it has become a cornerstone of
modern life by offering nearly
instant connections around the
world. The first two-way voice
conversation was transmitted
across the Atlantic Ocean in
1926,
and
commercial
telephone service (using radio)
began between New York and
London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service
in 1935. Transoceanic phone
service was eventually handled
by submarine cables in 1956
and since 1962 communications
satellites. Today’s chemical
engineers have brought us from
copper wire to fiber optics, from
switchboards to satellites, and
from party lines to the Internet.

A. Graham Bell

II. 1. Communications Advances
Wireless communications

Cellular phones and pagers depend on
printed and integrated circuits, advanced
materials, and miniaturization techniques
enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs
developed mobile car telephones in the
1940s, but they were unpopular due to a
lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when
wireless communications were divided
into a series of cells that automatically
switched callers as they moved so that
each cell could be reused. Cellular phones
quickly became popular. Chemistry has
also played a role in the development of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in
cellular phones.

Switchboard

II. 1. Communications Advances
Facsimile technology and xerography

Although Arthur Korn, the German
inventor transmitted first pictures
electronically in 1902, the first
functioning fax machine debuted in
1924 that adapted telephone circuits
for
picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into
electrical signals that indicated the
shades of the image. This data was
transmitted by telephone onto a
receiving sheet of photographic
negative film and then developed in a
darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced to allow an
exact replication of an image to be
made. Chemical innovations in
facsimile technology include new
toners and inks, advanced paper
technology, and organic photoreceptor
technology in the 1970s.

Telephotography

II. 1. Communications Advances
Laser and fiber optics

Pure glass fibers now provide the infrastructure
to carry information via laser-produced light in a
revolutionary technical achievement. Chemical
researchers invented the first optical fiber in
1970. Once fiber optics were fabricated and
installed as integrated components. The first
lightwave system was installed in 1977 to
provide voice, data, and video service over a
network. Today, a single fiber-optic cable can
transmit millions of phone calls, data files, and
video images.

Installation fiber optics in
Chicago downtown (1977)

II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers

Chemical engineering has fueled the computing
revolution and continues to make computers faster,
powerful, and affordable. In 1939, the first electronic
computer is invented at Iowa State University.
Programmable calculators with binary numbers and
Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In 1946,
ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, goes into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuts in 1962. By
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4bit microprocessor for consumer use and the personal
computer market exploded. Today’s innovations continue
with transistors, silicon chips, integrated components,
data storage devices, and advanced materials.

John von Neumann and the
ENIAC

II.2. Computer Technology
Semiconductor technology

Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s
computers, appliances, and communication devices.
Semiconductors, opposite to metals, are a class of
materials that increase their conductivity by elevated
temperatures. These semiconductors are further
treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made
from semiconductors materials. Semiconductors
enable electronic components to be smaller, faster,
and more energy-efficient. Chemists in the
semiconductor industry provide quality control of
components,
optimization
processes,
troubleshooting, and innovations to microelectronic
devices.

A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)

An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)

II.2. Computer Technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits

In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William
Shockley, and Walter Brattain demonstrated
that the flow of electricity through silicon could
be selectively controlled. The subsequent
creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors enable today’s high-speed,
efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961) consist
of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and memory
chips built in layers on silicon wafers, then
exposed to a multi-step chemical process. In
1967, the first hand-held calculator is made
using an integrated circuit, a small electronic
device containing many transistors and other
electronic components. In the 1980s, integrated
circuits are applied to computers.

Silicon chip

The first
integrated circuit

II.2. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies

Dramatic improvements have been made
in computer display technology in recent
years. High-resolution color graphics
screens are mainly based on the
television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen
displays for laptop and notebook
computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD)
based on organic chemicals were invented
in 1969. Today’s subsequent development
is a thin-film transistors liquid crystal
display in which each picture elements is
driven by its own individual transistors.
Chemists have developed liquid crystal
materials, color filters, polymer alignment
layers, molded-plastic light distribution
sheets, and plasma display technology.
Camera Obscura

II.2. Computer Technology
Information storage

Information must be recorded so that it can be
retrieved at a later time if it is to be used and
manipulated fully. Chemistry innovations have
ensured that the media for such recordings has
remained
high-quality,
easy-to-use,
and
inexpensive.
Breakthroughs
in
recording
capabilities (higher resolution, faster speed, and
color), photographic films, magnetic audio
recordings, and digital imaging have also
brought advances in recording devices. In 1955,
Reynold Johnson, an American inventor and
computer pioneer developed the first disk drive
to store computerized data. Many subsequent
advances were made, especially with computer
disks, magnetic tapes, and CD-ROMs (1984).
Early disk drive

II.2. Computer Technology
Communications satellites

Until the 1960s, voice communications
between North America and other continents
were very expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the
world’s first active communications satellite,
was sent into orbit. Chemistry enhanced the
structural materials (metal alloys, plastic, and
other advanced materials), computer and
electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these
satellites. Communications satellites played
a major role in expanding both international
and domestic long distance calling and
television transmission until the 1990s.
Today, communications satellites play an
increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite
dishes with digital television.

Telstar

Manufacturing of
GPS satellites
GPS satellites on
orbit

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies

In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first
feature-length movie to synchronize
singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s,
processes of the firm Technicolor had
been refined and the first color features
were a big draw. The chemistry of film
required a series of breakthroughs
involving
basic
materials,
different
chemical solutions, and exposure to light.

The showbill of the first feature-length
movie, The Jazz Singer, with
synchronized singing and dialogue

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Television

The Scotman John Logie Baird
displayed television publicly for the first
time in London, 1926, using mechanical
television system, the Nipkow disc,
patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth
transmitted
the
first
television image using cathode ray tube
(invented in 1897). The next twenty
years was the era of the vacuum tube in
electronics, and chemistry contributed
the unique materials for electrodes and
control elements within the tube. By the
1950s, many innovations were made,
including the integrated circuit in 1958.
The following decades brought solidstate imaging devices, miniaturization,
and varied electronic improvements.

The Nipkow disc and its inventor Paul Nipkow

Philo T. Farnsworth and
the cathode ray tube

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Photography

Photography
and
films
technology enables us to record
the most important experiences
and people in our lives.
Chemistry developed the film for
all types of cameras with
breakthroughs involving basic
materials, different chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
Battery improvements have also
contributed to the popularity of
the camera, including the 1950s
alkaline manganese batteries
that were tremendously popular
in small cameras with built-in
flash unit. Being able to
manipulate film, electronics, and
batteries led to the 1963
introduction of Eastman Kodak’s
popular Instamatic camera with
film cartridge that was sold over
50 millions by 1970.

Kodak-Instamatic

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics

Electronic materials and microelectronic devices
are the heart of countless modern products,
such as CD players, televisions, computers, and
wireless devices. From vacuum tubes to
transistors to integrated circuits, chemical
engineers have made electronics smaller, more
powerful, energy-efficient, and cheaper. New
materials, processes for producing highly
purified materials, and processes for building
semiconductors have resulted in components,
such as transistors and integrated circuits, which
can be assembled into complex electronic
circuitry to provide new capabilities to a wide
range of electronic devices.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Advanced synthetic materials

Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and
personal computers rely on though, durable,
non-conducting plastics to protect sensitive
electronic components. Plastics are essential
in electronic applications because of their
insulating properties; the flow of electrons
that make up electrical currents cannot
readily
penetrate
plastics’
molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of
molecules and creating new ones, chemists
and engineers are producing new materials
that are both strong and flexible. These
advances have improved impact resistance,
reduced the total weight of equipment, and
reduced the cost of consumer goods.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Transistors

It was the tiny, reliable electronic
component called a transistor that
enabled the marriage of computers
and communication more than any
other single development. In 1947,
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William
Shockley
invented
the
transistor, and it gradually replaced the
bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had
been amplifying and switching signals.
The transistor and the subsequent
integrated circuits (that contains
millions of transistors) served as the
foundation for the development of
modern electronics. By 1954, the
wildly popular transistor radio was
introduced, and by 1958, an American
electrical engineer, Seymour Cray
developed a transistorized computer.

The first transistor
The inventors of
transistor


Slide 15

TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES FROM THE CHEMIST’S VIEW
II. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Innovations in chemistry, engineering, and
electronics from the end of the nineteenth century
until today have helped us to keep contact at any
site of the world.
The lifestyle of the humanity has been radically
changed in the last century, from rural to urban life,
from education for the elite to education for the
masses, from agriculture to research work. The
subsequent flow of people, information, new ideas,
and materials has brought significant social change.
Numerous results of chemistry have contributed to
the development of many communication tools that
we need in order to capture, store, and distribute
information. Wireless communications and fiber
optics serve our internet society. Silicon chemistry
and high-performance polymers make today’s
computer microprocessors possible. Movies,
television, and photography all rely on chemistry to
help preserve our memories.
Scientific achievements of chemists contribute to
keep contact by remote family members with each
other.

Chronology
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Wireless communications
Facsimile technology and xerography
Laser and fiber optics
II. 2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Semiconductor technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
Monitor and display technologies
Information storage
Communications satellites
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
Television
Photography
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Transistors

Technology Milestones in Information and Communications
Chronology

1876 Alexander Graham Bell completes the first telephone call.
1926 The Warner brothers make the first movie to synchronize music and audio effects.
1926 The first two-way voice conversation is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts first television image using a cathode ray tube.
1946 ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, is put into operation. Since 1944 the Hungarian-born John von Neumann took
part in the modification of some mathematical-logical details of ENIAC.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1955 Reynold Johnson develops the first disk drive.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1961 Silicon chips first appear.

1961 Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite, is sent into orbit.
1961 The firm Eastman Kodak introduces the popular Instamatic camera with film cartridge.
1971 Intel company introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor for consumer use.
1977 Town Chicago tests the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.
1983 Cellular phones become popular after the automatic switching of wireless communications through a series of cells was
discovered.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc-read-only memory) is introduced along with its companion compact disc (CD) player.

II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone

Since Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876,
it has become a cornerstone of
modern life by offering nearly
instant connections around the
world. The first two-way voice
conversation was transmitted
across the Atlantic Ocean in
1926,
and
commercial
telephone service (using radio)
began between New York and
London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service
in 1935. Transoceanic phone
service was eventually handled
by submarine cables in 1956
and since 1962 communications
satellites. Today’s chemical
engineers have brought us from
copper wire to fiber optics, from
switchboards to satellites, and
from party lines to the Internet.

A. Graham Bell

II. 1. Communications Advances
Wireless communications

Cellular phones and pagers depend on
printed and integrated circuits, advanced
materials, and miniaturization techniques
enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs
developed mobile car telephones in the
1940s, but they were unpopular due to a
lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when
wireless communications were divided
into a series of cells that automatically
switched callers as they moved so that
each cell could be reused. Cellular phones
quickly became popular. Chemistry has
also played a role in the development of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in
cellular phones.

Switchboard

II. 1. Communications Advances
Facsimile technology and xerography

Although Arthur Korn, the German
inventor transmitted first pictures
electronically in 1902, the first
functioning fax machine debuted in
1924 that adapted telephone circuits
for
picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into
electrical signals that indicated the
shades of the image. This data was
transmitted by telephone onto a
receiving sheet of photographic
negative film and then developed in a
darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced to allow an
exact replication of an image to be
made. Chemical innovations in
facsimile technology include new
toners and inks, advanced paper
technology, and organic photoreceptor
technology in the 1970s.

Telephotography

II. 1. Communications Advances
Laser and fiber optics

Pure glass fibers now provide the infrastructure
to carry information via laser-produced light in a
revolutionary technical achievement. Chemical
researchers invented the first optical fiber in
1970. Once fiber optics were fabricated and
installed as integrated components. The first
lightwave system was installed in 1977 to
provide voice, data, and video service over a
network. Today, a single fiber-optic cable can
transmit millions of phone calls, data files, and
video images.

Installation fiber optics in
Chicago downtown (1977)

II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers

Chemical engineering has fueled the computing
revolution and continues to make computers faster,
powerful, and affordable. In 1939, the first electronic
computer is invented at Iowa State University.
Programmable calculators with binary numbers and
Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In 1946,
ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, goes into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuts in 1962. By
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4bit microprocessor for consumer use and the personal
computer market exploded. Today’s innovations continue
with transistors, silicon chips, integrated components,
data storage devices, and advanced materials.

John von Neumann and the
ENIAC

II.2. Computer Technology
Semiconductor technology

Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s
computers, appliances, and communication devices.
Semiconductors, opposite to metals, are a class of
materials that increase their conductivity by elevated
temperatures. These semiconductors are further
treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made
from semiconductors materials. Semiconductors
enable electronic components to be smaller, faster,
and more energy-efficient. Chemists in the
semiconductor industry provide quality control of
components,
optimization
processes,
troubleshooting, and innovations to microelectronic
devices.

A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)

An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)

II.2. Computer Technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits

In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William
Shockley, and Walter Brattain demonstrated
that the flow of electricity through silicon could
be selectively controlled. The subsequent
creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors enable today’s high-speed,
efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961) consist
of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and memory
chips built in layers on silicon wafers, then
exposed to a multi-step chemical process. In
1967, the first hand-held calculator is made
using an integrated circuit, a small electronic
device containing many transistors and other
electronic components. In the 1980s, integrated
circuits are applied to computers.

Silicon chip

The first
integrated circuit

II.2. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies

Dramatic improvements have been made
in computer display technology in recent
years. High-resolution color graphics
screens are mainly based on the
television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen
displays for laptop and notebook
computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD)
based on organic chemicals were invented
in 1969. Today’s subsequent development
is a thin-film transistors liquid crystal
display in which each picture elements is
driven by its own individual transistors.
Chemists have developed liquid crystal
materials, color filters, polymer alignment
layers, molded-plastic light distribution
sheets, and plasma display technology.
Camera Obscura

II.2. Computer Technology
Information storage

Information must be recorded so that it can be
retrieved at a later time if it is to be used and
manipulated fully. Chemistry innovations have
ensured that the media for such recordings has
remained
high-quality,
easy-to-use,
and
inexpensive.
Breakthroughs
in
recording
capabilities (higher resolution, faster speed, and
color), photographic films, magnetic audio
recordings, and digital imaging have also
brought advances in recording devices. In 1955,
Reynold Johnson, an American inventor and
computer pioneer developed the first disk drive
to store computerized data. Many subsequent
advances were made, especially with computer
disks, magnetic tapes, and CD-ROMs (1984).
Early disk drive

II.2. Computer Technology
Communications satellites

Until the 1960s, voice communications
between North America and other continents
were very expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the
world’s first active communications satellite,
was sent into orbit. Chemistry enhanced the
structural materials (metal alloys, plastic, and
other advanced materials), computer and
electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these
satellites. Communications satellites played
a major role in expanding both international
and domestic long distance calling and
television transmission until the 1990s.
Today, communications satellites play an
increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite
dishes with digital television.

Telstar

Manufacturing of
GPS satellites
GPS satellites on
orbit

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies

In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first
feature-length movie to synchronize
singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s,
processes of the firm Technicolor had
been refined and the first color features
were a big draw. The chemistry of film
required a series of breakthroughs
involving
basic
materials,
different
chemical solutions, and exposure to light.

The showbill of the first feature-length
movie, The Jazz Singer, with
synchronized singing and dialogue

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Television

The Scotman John Logie Baird
displayed television publicly for the first
time in London, 1926, using mechanical
television system, the Nipkow disc,
patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth
transmitted
the
first
television image using cathode ray tube
(invented in 1897). The next twenty
years was the era of the vacuum tube in
electronics, and chemistry contributed
the unique materials for electrodes and
control elements within the tube. By the
1950s, many innovations were made,
including the integrated circuit in 1958.
The following decades brought solidstate imaging devices, miniaturization,
and varied electronic improvements.

The Nipkow disc and its inventor Paul Nipkow

Philo T. Farnsworth and
the cathode ray tube

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Photography

Photography
and
films
technology enables us to record
the most important experiences
and people in our lives.
Chemistry developed the film for
all types of cameras with
breakthroughs involving basic
materials, different chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
Battery improvements have also
contributed to the popularity of
the camera, including the 1950s
alkaline manganese batteries
that were tremendously popular
in small cameras with built-in
flash unit. Being able to
manipulate film, electronics, and
batteries led to the 1963
introduction of Eastman Kodak’s
popular Instamatic camera with
film cartridge that was sold over
50 millions by 1970.

Kodak-Instamatic

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics

Electronic materials and microelectronic devices
are the heart of countless modern products,
such as CD players, televisions, computers, and
wireless devices. From vacuum tubes to
transistors to integrated circuits, chemical
engineers have made electronics smaller, more
powerful, energy-efficient, and cheaper. New
materials, processes for producing highly
purified materials, and processes for building
semiconductors have resulted in components,
such as transistors and integrated circuits, which
can be assembled into complex electronic
circuitry to provide new capabilities to a wide
range of electronic devices.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Advanced synthetic materials

Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and
personal computers rely on though, durable,
non-conducting plastics to protect sensitive
electronic components. Plastics are essential
in electronic applications because of their
insulating properties; the flow of electrons
that make up electrical currents cannot
readily
penetrate
plastics’
molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of
molecules and creating new ones, chemists
and engineers are producing new materials
that are both strong and flexible. These
advances have improved impact resistance,
reduced the total weight of equipment, and
reduced the cost of consumer goods.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Transistors

It was the tiny, reliable electronic
component called a transistor that
enabled the marriage of computers
and communication more than any
other single development. In 1947,
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William
Shockley
invented
the
transistor, and it gradually replaced the
bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had
been amplifying and switching signals.
The transistor and the subsequent
integrated circuits (that contains
millions of transistors) served as the
foundation for the development of
modern electronics. By 1954, the
wildly popular transistor radio was
introduced, and by 1958, an American
electrical engineer, Seymour Cray
developed a transistorized computer.

The first transistor
The inventors of
transistor


Slide 16

TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES FROM THE CHEMIST’S VIEW
II. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Innovations in chemistry, engineering, and
electronics from the end of the nineteenth century
until today have helped us to keep contact at any
site of the world.
The lifestyle of the humanity has been radically
changed in the last century, from rural to urban life,
from education for the elite to education for the
masses, from agriculture to research work. The
subsequent flow of people, information, new ideas,
and materials has brought significant social change.
Numerous results of chemistry have contributed to
the development of many communication tools that
we need in order to capture, store, and distribute
information. Wireless communications and fiber
optics serve our internet society. Silicon chemistry
and high-performance polymers make today’s
computer microprocessors possible. Movies,
television, and photography all rely on chemistry to
help preserve our memories.
Scientific achievements of chemists contribute to
keep contact by remote family members with each
other.

Chronology
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Wireless communications
Facsimile technology and xerography
Laser and fiber optics
II. 2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Semiconductor technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
Monitor and display technologies
Information storage
Communications satellites
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
Television
Photography
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Transistors

Technology Milestones in Information and Communications
Chronology

1876 Alexander Graham Bell completes the first telephone call.
1926 The Warner brothers make the first movie to synchronize music and audio effects.
1926 The first two-way voice conversation is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts first television image using a cathode ray tube.
1946 ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, is put into operation. Since 1944 the Hungarian-born John von Neumann took
part in the modification of some mathematical-logical details of ENIAC.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1955 Reynold Johnson develops the first disk drive.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1961 Silicon chips first appear.

1961 Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite, is sent into orbit.
1961 The firm Eastman Kodak introduces the popular Instamatic camera with film cartridge.
1971 Intel company introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor for consumer use.
1977 Town Chicago tests the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.
1983 Cellular phones become popular after the automatic switching of wireless communications through a series of cells was
discovered.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc-read-only memory) is introduced along with its companion compact disc (CD) player.

II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone

Since Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876,
it has become a cornerstone of
modern life by offering nearly
instant connections around the
world. The first two-way voice
conversation was transmitted
across the Atlantic Ocean in
1926,
and
commercial
telephone service (using radio)
began between New York and
London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service
in 1935. Transoceanic phone
service was eventually handled
by submarine cables in 1956
and since 1962 communications
satellites. Today’s chemical
engineers have brought us from
copper wire to fiber optics, from
switchboards to satellites, and
from party lines to the Internet.

A. Graham Bell

II. 1. Communications Advances
Wireless communications

Cellular phones and pagers depend on
printed and integrated circuits, advanced
materials, and miniaturization techniques
enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs
developed mobile car telephones in the
1940s, but they were unpopular due to a
lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when
wireless communications were divided
into a series of cells that automatically
switched callers as they moved so that
each cell could be reused. Cellular phones
quickly became popular. Chemistry has
also played a role in the development of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in
cellular phones.

Switchboard

II. 1. Communications Advances
Facsimile technology and xerography

Although Arthur Korn, the German
inventor transmitted first pictures
electronically in 1902, the first
functioning fax machine debuted in
1924 that adapted telephone circuits
for
picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into
electrical signals that indicated the
shades of the image. This data was
transmitted by telephone onto a
receiving sheet of photographic
negative film and then developed in a
darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced to allow an
exact replication of an image to be
made. Chemical innovations in
facsimile technology include new
toners and inks, advanced paper
technology, and organic photoreceptor
technology in the 1970s.

Telephotography

II. 1. Communications Advances
Laser and fiber optics

Pure glass fibers now provide the infrastructure
to carry information via laser-produced light in a
revolutionary technical achievement. Chemical
researchers invented the first optical fiber in
1970. Once fiber optics were fabricated and
installed as integrated components. The first
lightwave system was installed in 1977 to
provide voice, data, and video service over a
network. Today, a single fiber-optic cable can
transmit millions of phone calls, data files, and
video images.

Installation fiber optics in
Chicago downtown (1977)

II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers

Chemical engineering has fueled the computing
revolution and continues to make computers faster,
powerful, and affordable. In 1939, the first electronic
computer is invented at Iowa State University.
Programmable calculators with binary numbers and
Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In 1946,
ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, goes into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuts in 1962. By
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4bit microprocessor for consumer use and the personal
computer market exploded. Today’s innovations continue
with transistors, silicon chips, integrated components,
data storage devices, and advanced materials.

John von Neumann and the
ENIAC

II.2. Computer Technology
Semiconductor technology

Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s
computers, appliances, and communication devices.
Semiconductors, opposite to metals, are a class of
materials that increase their conductivity by elevated
temperatures. These semiconductors are further
treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made
from semiconductors materials. Semiconductors
enable electronic components to be smaller, faster,
and more energy-efficient. Chemists in the
semiconductor industry provide quality control of
components,
optimization
processes,
troubleshooting, and innovations to microelectronic
devices.

A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)

An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)

II.2. Computer Technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits

In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William
Shockley, and Walter Brattain demonstrated
that the flow of electricity through silicon could
be selectively controlled. The subsequent
creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors enable today’s high-speed,
efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961) consist
of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and memory
chips built in layers on silicon wafers, then
exposed to a multi-step chemical process. In
1967, the first hand-held calculator is made
using an integrated circuit, a small electronic
device containing many transistors and other
electronic components. In the 1980s, integrated
circuits are applied to computers.

Silicon chip

The first
integrated circuit

II.2. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies

Dramatic improvements have been made
in computer display technology in recent
years. High-resolution color graphics
screens are mainly based on the
television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen
displays for laptop and notebook
computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD)
based on organic chemicals were invented
in 1969. Today’s subsequent development
is a thin-film transistors liquid crystal
display in which each picture elements is
driven by its own individual transistors.
Chemists have developed liquid crystal
materials, color filters, polymer alignment
layers, molded-plastic light distribution
sheets, and plasma display technology.
Camera Obscura

II.2. Computer Technology
Information storage

Information must be recorded so that it can be
retrieved at a later time if it is to be used and
manipulated fully. Chemistry innovations have
ensured that the media for such recordings has
remained
high-quality,
easy-to-use,
and
inexpensive.
Breakthroughs
in
recording
capabilities (higher resolution, faster speed, and
color), photographic films, magnetic audio
recordings, and digital imaging have also
brought advances in recording devices. In 1955,
Reynold Johnson, an American inventor and
computer pioneer developed the first disk drive
to store computerized data. Many subsequent
advances were made, especially with computer
disks, magnetic tapes, and CD-ROMs (1984).
Early disk drive

II.2. Computer Technology
Communications satellites

Until the 1960s, voice communications
between North America and other continents
were very expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the
world’s first active communications satellite,
was sent into orbit. Chemistry enhanced the
structural materials (metal alloys, plastic, and
other advanced materials), computer and
electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these
satellites. Communications satellites played
a major role in expanding both international
and domestic long distance calling and
television transmission until the 1990s.
Today, communications satellites play an
increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite
dishes with digital television.

Telstar

Manufacturing of
GPS satellites
GPS satellites on
orbit

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies

In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first
feature-length movie to synchronize
singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s,
processes of the firm Technicolor had
been refined and the first color features
were a big draw. The chemistry of film
required a series of breakthroughs
involving
basic
materials,
different
chemical solutions, and exposure to light.

The showbill of the first feature-length
movie, The Jazz Singer, with
synchronized singing and dialogue

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Television

The Scotman John Logie Baird
displayed television publicly for the first
time in London, 1926, using mechanical
television system, the Nipkow disc,
patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth
transmitted
the
first
television image using cathode ray tube
(invented in 1897). The next twenty
years was the era of the vacuum tube in
electronics, and chemistry contributed
the unique materials for electrodes and
control elements within the tube. By the
1950s, many innovations were made,
including the integrated circuit in 1958.
The following decades brought solidstate imaging devices, miniaturization,
and varied electronic improvements.

The Nipkow disc and its inventor Paul Nipkow

Philo T. Farnsworth and
the cathode ray tube

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Photography

Photography
and
films
technology enables us to record
the most important experiences
and people in our lives.
Chemistry developed the film for
all types of cameras with
breakthroughs involving basic
materials, different chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
Battery improvements have also
contributed to the popularity of
the camera, including the 1950s
alkaline manganese batteries
that were tremendously popular
in small cameras with built-in
flash unit. Being able to
manipulate film, electronics, and
batteries led to the 1963
introduction of Eastman Kodak’s
popular Instamatic camera with
film cartridge that was sold over
50 millions by 1970.

Kodak-Instamatic

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics

Electronic materials and microelectronic devices
are the heart of countless modern products,
such as CD players, televisions, computers, and
wireless devices. From vacuum tubes to
transistors to integrated circuits, chemical
engineers have made electronics smaller, more
powerful, energy-efficient, and cheaper. New
materials, processes for producing highly
purified materials, and processes for building
semiconductors have resulted in components,
such as transistors and integrated circuits, which
can be assembled into complex electronic
circuitry to provide new capabilities to a wide
range of electronic devices.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Advanced synthetic materials

Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and
personal computers rely on though, durable,
non-conducting plastics to protect sensitive
electronic components. Plastics are essential
in electronic applications because of their
insulating properties; the flow of electrons
that make up electrical currents cannot
readily
penetrate
plastics’
molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of
molecules and creating new ones, chemists
and engineers are producing new materials
that are both strong and flexible. These
advances have improved impact resistance,
reduced the total weight of equipment, and
reduced the cost of consumer goods.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Transistors

It was the tiny, reliable electronic
component called a transistor that
enabled the marriage of computers
and communication more than any
other single development. In 1947,
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William
Shockley
invented
the
transistor, and it gradually replaced the
bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had
been amplifying and switching signals.
The transistor and the subsequent
integrated circuits (that contains
millions of transistors) served as the
foundation for the development of
modern electronics. By 1954, the
wildly popular transistor radio was
introduced, and by 1958, an American
electrical engineer, Seymour Cray
developed a transistorized computer.

The first transistor
The inventors of
transistor


Slide 17

TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES FROM THE CHEMIST’S VIEW
II. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Innovations in chemistry, engineering, and
electronics from the end of the nineteenth century
until today have helped us to keep contact at any
site of the world.
The lifestyle of the humanity has been radically
changed in the last century, from rural to urban life,
from education for the elite to education for the
masses, from agriculture to research work. The
subsequent flow of people, information, new ideas,
and materials has brought significant social change.
Numerous results of chemistry have contributed to
the development of many communication tools that
we need in order to capture, store, and distribute
information. Wireless communications and fiber
optics serve our internet society. Silicon chemistry
and high-performance polymers make today’s
computer microprocessors possible. Movies,
television, and photography all rely on chemistry to
help preserve our memories.
Scientific achievements of chemists contribute to
keep contact by remote family members with each
other.

Chronology
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Wireless communications
Facsimile technology and xerography
Laser and fiber optics
II. 2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Semiconductor technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
Monitor and display technologies
Information storage
Communications satellites
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
Television
Photography
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Transistors

Technology Milestones in Information and Communications
Chronology

1876 Alexander Graham Bell completes the first telephone call.
1926 The Warner brothers make the first movie to synchronize music and audio effects.
1926 The first two-way voice conversation is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts first television image using a cathode ray tube.
1946 ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, is put into operation. Since 1944 the Hungarian-born John von Neumann took
part in the modification of some mathematical-logical details of ENIAC.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1955 Reynold Johnson develops the first disk drive.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1961 Silicon chips first appear.

1961 Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite, is sent into orbit.
1961 The firm Eastman Kodak introduces the popular Instamatic camera with film cartridge.
1971 Intel company introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor for consumer use.
1977 Town Chicago tests the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.
1983 Cellular phones become popular after the automatic switching of wireless communications through a series of cells was
discovered.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc-read-only memory) is introduced along with its companion compact disc (CD) player.

II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone

Since Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876,
it has become a cornerstone of
modern life by offering nearly
instant connections around the
world. The first two-way voice
conversation was transmitted
across the Atlantic Ocean in
1926,
and
commercial
telephone service (using radio)
began between New York and
London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service
in 1935. Transoceanic phone
service was eventually handled
by submarine cables in 1956
and since 1962 communications
satellites. Today’s chemical
engineers have brought us from
copper wire to fiber optics, from
switchboards to satellites, and
from party lines to the Internet.

A. Graham Bell

II. 1. Communications Advances
Wireless communications

Cellular phones and pagers depend on
printed and integrated circuits, advanced
materials, and miniaturization techniques
enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs
developed mobile car telephones in the
1940s, but they were unpopular due to a
lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when
wireless communications were divided
into a series of cells that automatically
switched callers as they moved so that
each cell could be reused. Cellular phones
quickly became popular. Chemistry has
also played a role in the development of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in
cellular phones.

Switchboard

II. 1. Communications Advances
Facsimile technology and xerography

Although Arthur Korn, the German
inventor transmitted first pictures
electronically in 1902, the first
functioning fax machine debuted in
1924 that adapted telephone circuits
for
picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into
electrical signals that indicated the
shades of the image. This data was
transmitted by telephone onto a
receiving sheet of photographic
negative film and then developed in a
darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced to allow an
exact replication of an image to be
made. Chemical innovations in
facsimile technology include new
toners and inks, advanced paper
technology, and organic photoreceptor
technology in the 1970s.

Telephotography

II. 1. Communications Advances
Laser and fiber optics

Pure glass fibers now provide the infrastructure
to carry information via laser-produced light in a
revolutionary technical achievement. Chemical
researchers invented the first optical fiber in
1970. Once fiber optics were fabricated and
installed as integrated components. The first
lightwave system was installed in 1977 to
provide voice, data, and video service over a
network. Today, a single fiber-optic cable can
transmit millions of phone calls, data files, and
video images.

Installation fiber optics in
Chicago downtown (1977)

II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers

Chemical engineering has fueled the computing
revolution and continues to make computers faster,
powerful, and affordable. In 1939, the first electronic
computer is invented at Iowa State University.
Programmable calculators with binary numbers and
Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In 1946,
ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, goes into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuts in 1962. By
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4bit microprocessor for consumer use and the personal
computer market exploded. Today’s innovations continue
with transistors, silicon chips, integrated components,
data storage devices, and advanced materials.

John von Neumann and the
ENIAC

II.2. Computer Technology
Semiconductor technology

Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s
computers, appliances, and communication devices.
Semiconductors, opposite to metals, are a class of
materials that increase their conductivity by elevated
temperatures. These semiconductors are further
treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made
from semiconductors materials. Semiconductors
enable electronic components to be smaller, faster,
and more energy-efficient. Chemists in the
semiconductor industry provide quality control of
components,
optimization
processes,
troubleshooting, and innovations to microelectronic
devices.

A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)

An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)

II.2. Computer Technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits

In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William
Shockley, and Walter Brattain demonstrated
that the flow of electricity through silicon could
be selectively controlled. The subsequent
creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors enable today’s high-speed,
efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961) consist
of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and memory
chips built in layers on silicon wafers, then
exposed to a multi-step chemical process. In
1967, the first hand-held calculator is made
using an integrated circuit, a small electronic
device containing many transistors and other
electronic components. In the 1980s, integrated
circuits are applied to computers.

Silicon chip

The first
integrated circuit

II.2. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies

Dramatic improvements have been made
in computer display technology in recent
years. High-resolution color graphics
screens are mainly based on the
television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen
displays for laptop and notebook
computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD)
based on organic chemicals were invented
in 1969. Today’s subsequent development
is a thin-film transistors liquid crystal
display in which each picture elements is
driven by its own individual transistors.
Chemists have developed liquid crystal
materials, color filters, polymer alignment
layers, molded-plastic light distribution
sheets, and plasma display technology.
Camera Obscura

II.2. Computer Technology
Information storage

Information must be recorded so that it can be
retrieved at a later time if it is to be used and
manipulated fully. Chemistry innovations have
ensured that the media for such recordings has
remained
high-quality,
easy-to-use,
and
inexpensive.
Breakthroughs
in
recording
capabilities (higher resolution, faster speed, and
color), photographic films, magnetic audio
recordings, and digital imaging have also
brought advances in recording devices. In 1955,
Reynold Johnson, an American inventor and
computer pioneer developed the first disk drive
to store computerized data. Many subsequent
advances were made, especially with computer
disks, magnetic tapes, and CD-ROMs (1984).
Early disk drive

II.2. Computer Technology
Communications satellites

Until the 1960s, voice communications
between North America and other continents
were very expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the
world’s first active communications satellite,
was sent into orbit. Chemistry enhanced the
structural materials (metal alloys, plastic, and
other advanced materials), computer and
electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these
satellites. Communications satellites played
a major role in expanding both international
and domestic long distance calling and
television transmission until the 1990s.
Today, communications satellites play an
increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite
dishes with digital television.

Telstar

Manufacturing of
GPS satellites
GPS satellites on
orbit

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies

In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first
feature-length movie to synchronize
singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s,
processes of the firm Technicolor had
been refined and the first color features
were a big draw. The chemistry of film
required a series of breakthroughs
involving
basic
materials,
different
chemical solutions, and exposure to light.

The showbill of the first feature-length
movie, The Jazz Singer, with
synchronized singing and dialogue

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Television

The Scotman John Logie Baird
displayed television publicly for the first
time in London, 1926, using mechanical
television system, the Nipkow disc,
patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth
transmitted
the
first
television image using cathode ray tube
(invented in 1897). The next twenty
years was the era of the vacuum tube in
electronics, and chemistry contributed
the unique materials for electrodes and
control elements within the tube. By the
1950s, many innovations were made,
including the integrated circuit in 1958.
The following decades brought solidstate imaging devices, miniaturization,
and varied electronic improvements.

The Nipkow disc and its inventor Paul Nipkow

Philo T. Farnsworth and
the cathode ray tube

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Photography

Photography
and
films
technology enables us to record
the most important experiences
and people in our lives.
Chemistry developed the film for
all types of cameras with
breakthroughs involving basic
materials, different chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
Battery improvements have also
contributed to the popularity of
the camera, including the 1950s
alkaline manganese batteries
that were tremendously popular
in small cameras with built-in
flash unit. Being able to
manipulate film, electronics, and
batteries led to the 1963
introduction of Eastman Kodak’s
popular Instamatic camera with
film cartridge that was sold over
50 millions by 1970.

Kodak-Instamatic

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics

Electronic materials and microelectronic devices
are the heart of countless modern products,
such as CD players, televisions, computers, and
wireless devices. From vacuum tubes to
transistors to integrated circuits, chemical
engineers have made electronics smaller, more
powerful, energy-efficient, and cheaper. New
materials, processes for producing highly
purified materials, and processes for building
semiconductors have resulted in components,
such as transistors and integrated circuits, which
can be assembled into complex electronic
circuitry to provide new capabilities to a wide
range of electronic devices.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Advanced synthetic materials

Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and
personal computers rely on though, durable,
non-conducting plastics to protect sensitive
electronic components. Plastics are essential
in electronic applications because of their
insulating properties; the flow of electrons
that make up electrical currents cannot
readily
penetrate
plastics’
molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of
molecules and creating new ones, chemists
and engineers are producing new materials
that are both strong and flexible. These
advances have improved impact resistance,
reduced the total weight of equipment, and
reduced the cost of consumer goods.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Transistors

It was the tiny, reliable electronic
component called a transistor that
enabled the marriage of computers
and communication more than any
other single development. In 1947,
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William
Shockley
invented
the
transistor, and it gradually replaced the
bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had
been amplifying and switching signals.
The transistor and the subsequent
integrated circuits (that contains
millions of transistors) served as the
foundation for the development of
modern electronics. By 1954, the
wildly popular transistor radio was
introduced, and by 1958, an American
electrical engineer, Seymour Cray
developed a transistorized computer.

The first transistor
The inventors of
transistor


Slide 18

TECHNOLOGY MILESTONES FROM THE CHEMIST’S VIEW
II. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
Innovations in chemistry, engineering, and
electronics from the end of the nineteenth century
until today have helped us to keep contact at any
site of the world.
The lifestyle of the humanity has been radically
changed in the last century, from rural to urban life,
from education for the elite to education for the
masses, from agriculture to research work. The
subsequent flow of people, information, new ideas,
and materials has brought significant social change.
Numerous results of chemistry have contributed to
the development of many communication tools that
we need in order to capture, store, and distribute
information. Wireless communications and fiber
optics serve our internet society. Silicon chemistry
and high-performance polymers make today’s
computer microprocessors possible. Movies,
television, and photography all rely on chemistry to
help preserve our memories.
Scientific achievements of chemists contribute to
keep contact by remote family members with each
other.

Chronology
II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone
Wireless communications
Facsimile technology and xerography
Laser and fiber optics
II. 2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers
Semiconductor technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits
Monitor and display technologies
Information storage
Communications satellites
II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies
Television
Photography
II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics
Advanced synthetic materials
Transistors

Technology Milestones in Information and Communications
Chronology

1876 Alexander Graham Bell completes the first telephone call.
1926 The Warner brothers make the first movie to synchronize music and audio effects.
1926 The first two-way voice conversation is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts first television image using a cathode ray tube.
1946 ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, is put into operation. Since 1944 the Hungarian-born John von Neumann took
part in the modification of some mathematical-logical details of ENIAC.
1947 The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1955 Reynold Johnson develops the first disk drive.
1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit (IC).
1961 Silicon chips first appear.

1961 Telstar, the world’s first active communications satellite, is sent into orbit.
1961 The firm Eastman Kodak introduces the popular Instamatic camera with film cartridge.
1971 Intel company introduces its popular 4004 4-bit microprocessor for consumer use.
1977 Town Chicago tests the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.
1983 Cellular phones become popular after the automatic switching of wireless communications through a series of cells was
discovered.
1984 CD-ROM (compact-disc-read-only memory) is introduced along with its companion compact disc (CD) player.

II. 1. Communications Advances
The development of telephone

Since Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876,
it has become a cornerstone of
modern life by offering nearly
instant connections around the
world. The first two-way voice
conversation was transmitted
across the Atlantic Ocean in
1926,
and
commercial
telephone service (using radio)
began between New York and
London in 1927. AT&T launched
international telephone service
in 1935. Transoceanic phone
service was eventually handled
by submarine cables in 1956
and since 1962 communications
satellites. Today’s chemical
engineers have brought us from
copper wire to fiber optics, from
switchboards to satellites, and
from party lines to the Internet.

A. Graham Bell

II. 1. Communications Advances
Wireless communications

Cellular phones and pagers depend on
printed and integrated circuits, advanced
materials, and miniaturization techniques
enhanced by chemistry. AT&T Labs
developed mobile car telephones in the
1940s, but they were unpopular due to a
lack of communications channels. The
1980s brought a big breakthrough when
wireless communications were divided
into a series of cells that automatically
switched callers as they moved so that
each cell could be reused. Cellular phones
quickly became popular. Chemistry has
also played a role in the development of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in
cellular phones.

Switchboard

II. 1. Communications Advances
Facsimile technology and xerography

Although Arthur Korn, the German
inventor transmitted first pictures
electronically in 1902, the first
functioning fax machine debuted in
1924 that adapted telephone circuits
for
picture
transmission
using
telephotography:
A
photography
transparency was scanned into
electrical signals that indicated the
shades of the image. This data was
transmitted by telephone onto a
receiving sheet of photographic
negative film and then developed in a
darkroom. In 1949, a xerographic
copier was introduced to allow an
exact replication of an image to be
made. Chemical innovations in
facsimile technology include new
toners and inks, advanced paper
technology, and organic photoreceptor
technology in the 1970s.

Telephotography

II. 1. Communications Advances
Laser and fiber optics

Pure glass fibers now provide the infrastructure
to carry information via laser-produced light in a
revolutionary technical achievement. Chemical
researchers invented the first optical fiber in
1970. Once fiber optics were fabricated and
installed as integrated components. The first
lightwave system was installed in 1977 to
provide voice, data, and video service over a
network. Today, a single fiber-optic cable can
transmit millions of phone calls, data files, and
video images.

Installation fiber optics in
Chicago downtown (1977)

II.2. Computer Technology
Evolution of computers

Chemical engineering has fueled the computing
revolution and continues to make computers faster,
powerful, and affordable. In 1939, the first electronic
computer is invented at Iowa State University.
Programmable calculators with binary numbers and
Boolean logic began to appear in the 1940s. In 1946,
ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer, goes into
operation, and the first minicomputer debuts in 1962. By
1971, the Intel Company introduced its popular 4004 4bit microprocessor for consumer use and the personal
computer market exploded. Today’s innovations continue
with transistors, silicon chips, integrated components,
data storage devices, and advanced materials.

John von Neumann and the
ENIAC

II.2. Computer Technology
Semiconductor technology

Chemistry makes it possible to transform silicon and
germanium into semiconductors to power today’s
computers, appliances, and communication devices.
Semiconductors, opposite to metals, are a class of
materials that increase their conductivity by elevated
temperatures. These semiconductors are further
treated to create an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips and integrated circuits are made
from semiconductors materials. Semiconductors
enable electronic components to be smaller, faster,
and more energy-efficient. Chemists in the
semiconductor industry provide quality control of
components,
optimization
processes,
troubleshooting, and innovations to microelectronic
devices.

A p-type semiconductor
(lack of electrons)

An n-type semiconductor
(excess of electrons)

II.2. Computer Technology
Silicon chips and integrated circuits

In 1947, researchers John Bardeen, William
Shockley, and Walter Brattain demonstrated
that the flow of electricity through silicon could
be selectively controlled. The subsequent
creation of silicon chips, integrated circuits, and
microprocessors enable today’s high-speed,
efficient computers. Silicon chips (1961) consist
of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and memory
chips built in layers on silicon wafers, then
exposed to a multi-step chemical process. In
1967, the first hand-held calculator is made
using an integrated circuit, a small electronic
device containing many transistors and other
electronic components. In the 1980s, integrated
circuits are applied to computers.

Silicon chip

The first
integrated circuit

II.2. Computer Technology
Monitor and display technologies

Dramatic improvements have been made
in computer display technology in recent
years. High-resolution color graphics
screens are mainly based on the
television’s cathode ray tube. Alternate
display technologies include flat-screen
displays for laptop and notebook
computers. Liquid crystals displays (LCD)
based on organic chemicals were invented
in 1969. Today’s subsequent development
is a thin-film transistors liquid crystal
display in which each picture elements is
driven by its own individual transistors.
Chemists have developed liquid crystal
materials, color filters, polymer alignment
layers, molded-plastic light distribution
sheets, and plasma display technology.
Camera Obscura

II.2. Computer Technology
Information storage

Information must be recorded so that it can be
retrieved at a later time if it is to be used and
manipulated fully. Chemistry innovations have
ensured that the media for such recordings has
remained
high-quality,
easy-to-use,
and
inexpensive.
Breakthroughs
in
recording
capabilities (higher resolution, faster speed, and
color), photographic films, magnetic audio
recordings, and digital imaging have also
brought advances in recording devices. In 1955,
Reynold Johnson, an American inventor and
computer pioneer developed the first disk drive
to store computerized data. Many subsequent
advances were made, especially with computer
disks, magnetic tapes, and CD-ROMs (1984).
Early disk drive

II.2. Computer Technology
Communications satellites

Until the 1960s, voice communications
between North America and other continents
were very expensive. In 1962, Telstar, the
world’s first active communications satellite,
was sent into orbit. Chemistry enhanced the
structural materials (metal alloys, plastic, and
other advanced materials), computer and
electronic components, and the fuel
technology necessary to launch these
satellites. Communications satellites played
a major role in expanding both international
and domestic long distance calling and
television transmission until the 1990s.
Today, communications satellites play an
increasing role in television transmission,
including direct broadcasts to home satellite
dishes with digital television.

Telstar

Manufacturing of
GPS satellites
GPS satellites on
orbit

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Movies

In 1927, The Jazz Singer became the first
feature-length movie to synchronize
singing and dialogue. By the late 1930s,
processes of the firm Technicolor had
been refined and the first color features
were a big draw. The chemistry of film
required a series of breakthroughs
involving
basic
materials,
different
chemical solutions, and exposure to light.

The showbill of the first feature-length
movie, The Jazz Singer, with
synchronized singing and dialogue

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Television

The Scotman John Logie Baird
displayed television publicly for the first
time in London, 1926, using mechanical
television system, the Nipkow disc,
patented in 1883. By 1927, Philo T.
Farnsworth
transmitted
the
first
television image using cathode ray tube
(invented in 1897). The next twenty
years was the era of the vacuum tube in
electronics, and chemistry contributed
the unique materials for electrodes and
control elements within the tube. By the
1950s, many innovations were made,
including the integrated circuit in 1958.
The following decades brought solidstate imaging devices, miniaturization,
and varied electronic improvements.

The Nipkow disc and its inventor Paul Nipkow

Philo T. Farnsworth and
the cathode ray tube

II. 3. Entertainment Developments
Photography

Photography
and
films
technology enables us to record
the most important experiences
and people in our lives.
Chemistry developed the film for
all types of cameras with
breakthroughs involving basic
materials, different chemical
solutions, and exposure to light.
Battery improvements have also
contributed to the popularity of
the camera, including the 1950s
alkaline manganese batteries
that were tremendously popular
in small cameras with built-in
flash unit. Being able to
manipulate film, electronics, and
batteries led to the 1963
introduction of Eastman Kodak’s
popular Instamatic camera with
film cartridge that was sold over
50 millions by 1970.

Kodak-Instamatic

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Evolution of consumer electronics

Electronic materials and microelectronic devices
are the heart of countless modern products,
such as CD players, televisions, computers, and
wireless devices. From vacuum tubes to
transistors to integrated circuits, chemical
engineers have made electronics smaller, more
powerful, energy-efficient, and cheaper. New
materials, processes for producing highly
purified materials, and processes for building
semiconductors have resulted in components,
such as transistors and integrated circuits, which
can be assembled into complex electronic
circuitry to provide new capabilities to a wide
range of electronic devices.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Advanced synthetic materials

Consumer electronics, cellular phones, and
personal computers rely on though, durable,
non-conducting plastics to protect sensitive
electronic components. Plastics are essential
in electronic applications because of their
insulating properties; the flow of electrons
that make up electrical currents cannot
readily
penetrate
plastics’
molecular
structures. By manipulating the structures of
molecules and creating new ones, chemists
and engineers are producing new materials
that are both strong and flexible. These
advances have improved impact resistance,
reduced the total weight of equipment, and
reduced the cost of consumer goods.

II. 4. Innovations in Electronics
Transistors

It was the tiny, reliable electronic
component called a transistor that
enabled the marriage of computers
and communication more than any
other single development. In 1947,
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and
William
Shockley
invented
the
transistor, and it gradually replaced the
bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had
been amplifying and switching signals.
The transistor and the subsequent
integrated circuits (that contains
millions of transistors) served as the
foundation for the development of
modern electronics. By 1954, the
wildly popular transistor radio was
introduced, and by 1958, an American
electrical engineer, Seymour Cray
developed a transistorized computer.

The first transistor
The inventors of
transistor