Conquering the Electron: The Geniuses, Visionaries, Egomaniacs, and Scoundrels Who Built Our Electronic Age

Conquering the Electron offers readers a true and engaging history of the world of electronics.Beginning with the discoveries of static electricity and magnetism and ending with the creation of the smartphone and the iPad, this book shows the interconnection of each advance to the next one on the long journey to our modern day technologies. Want to know how AT&T's Bell Labs developed semiconductor technology--and how its leading scientists almost came to blows in the process? Want to understand how radio and television work--and why RCA drove their inventors to financial ruin and an early grave? Conquering the Electron offers these stories and more, presenting each revolutionary technological advance right alongside the blow-by-blow personal battles that all too often took place. By exploring the combination of genius, infighting, and luck that powered the creation of the electronic age we inhabit today, Conquering the Electron shows the interconnection of each advance to the next while also pulling back the curtain on the visionaries whose ideas shaped our world.