Inventing the Future: How Bell Labs Shaped Our Society Today
A look inside the history and progression of their innovations over the last 91 years.
by Asli Ozcivelek & Shelby Thompson
Do you even remember a time before the internet? How about telephones? Today, so many kinds of telecommunication systems have become seamlessly integral in our daily routine that we don’t even think about where they came from. However, looking into the history of Bell Labs will provide some insight as to how these developments came about — and in what order.
Bell Labs
Bell Labs was established in 1925 by Alexander Graham Bell himself in Washington, D.C. as a joint effort of the Western Electric Research Laboratory and part of AT&T’s engineering team.
Number of patents filed by Bell Labs employees: 29,002
Perhaps one of Graham Bell’s most prevalent and significant innovations was the telephone. However, like many other inventions, he didn’t come up with the idea of recording sound all on his own. In 1857, Edouard-Leon Scott was rewarded a patent for a device that he designed that could record sound: the phonautograph. This planted the first seeds of the concept of turning sound into something recordable, something physical. Bell’s biggest contribution to the idea was figuring out how to play back the recorded sound. Years later, Thomas Edison also worked on this problem, and added to Scott’s work by inventing the phonograph.
“He imagined it would regularly be used as a means of sending audio letter through the postal system. Individuals would record their missives on the phonograph’s wax scrolls, and then pop them into the mail, to be played back days later. Bell, in inventing the telephone, made what was effectively a mirror-image miscalculation: He envisioned one of the primary uses for the telephone to be as a medium for sharing live music. An orchestra or singer would sit on one end of the line, and listeners would sit back and enjoy the sound through the telephone speaker on the other.”
As a result of the invention of the telephone, Bell Labs was founded. However, this was not the only impact that the telephone had on society. Invention is shaped for the most part by the adjacent possibilities. The theory of the adjacent possible states: that we can only envision something new regarding its relationship with the existing world- so that we can move one step further than what already exists. Thanks to the telephone, the cell phone and then the smartphone became parts of adjacent possibilities over the years to come.
These are all paradigm shifters in our society. Especially today, since smartphones define so much of the way we interact— not only with other people, but with the world. They have also changed the way we interact with products and what they mean to us. Smartphones can mean avoiding awkwardly waiting on your own. They can mean having your best friend be with you all the time, or connecting with a complete stranger in another country. If this train of thought didn’t include the smartphone, the app industry (which is one of the biggest and fastest growing industries of today), wouldn’t have been a possibility.
A Look at Bell Labs’ Inventions Throughout History
In addition to the telephone, the radio was among the inventions that Bell Labs made contributions to. After American inventor Lee de Forest attempted transmitting radio signals, scientists at Bell Labs modified his design to make it work better. As a result, the device had the capacity of transmitting as well as receiving, whereas before in de Forest’s work, it was only transmitting. Following closely was the invention of the vacuum tube, as author Steven Johnson notes, “the first great breakthrough of the electronics revolution, a device that would boost the electrical signal of just about any technology that needed it.” Because of this breakthrough, a majority of the technology to follow depended on the vacuum tube.
Perhaps the less recognized outcome of the radio was the popularization of Jazz. Almost overnight, musicians like Duke Ellington became household names. The pace at which musicians can now be recognized due to the prevalence of sound transmission was something unforeseen prior to the emergence of radios. It was also a new adjustment to have a device that connected people, regardless of their geographical locations, and for someone to have the ability to access an audience and have control over the content broadcasted. In addition, the social effect of the radio crossed racial boundaries.
“For the first time, white America welcomed African-American culture into its living room. Those radio waves ignored the way in which society was segmented. The radio signals were color blind to racial segregation and economic classes.” — Steven Johnston
It is interesting to think about how technology can, in a way, detach you from the person and therefore allow you to be more objective about what is being communicated, rather than who is communicating it. Removing the nature of any digital or electronic information gives people the chance to have a neutral stance towards the information being provided to them.
The invention of the statistical process control lead to the invention of the six sigma - now a prevalent methodology in business environments for monitoring quality control (QC). Without this contribution from Bell Labs, QC in production and manufacturing would be in a much different place.
The synchronous sound-motion system machine was one of the earlier examples of sound recording achieved during this time. With the development of film, people were now trying to find ways of recording and playing back sound in a synchronized manner. While the telephone realized the idea of transmitting sound, it took this machine to make recording it become a possibility.
Starting with the Wall Street Crash in 1929, the Depression dominated most of the 1930's. As a result, the world saw an upswing in authoritarian regimes and countries dominated by world powers looking to extend their land ownership. Nazism started to rise, and these shifts triggered the events that lead to the Second World War. This era also saw developments in the fields of aviation, radio, and film. During the first half of the ‘30s, skyscrapers filled the urban landscape, and the world’s tallest buildings — The Empire State Building and The Chrysler Building — were built within a year of each other.
Meanwhile at Bell Labs, with developments such as the speech synthesizer, technology started becoming more and more designed to simulate human behavior. This meant that people could use these technologies to augment their own abilities. The field grew and expanded in time, where artificial intelligence became one of the biggest research fields in science; opening up the possibility of robots mimicking human behavior in many different ways. Scientists linked this to the field of medicine, and found ways to integrate devices into the human body directly. Stephen Hawkings eventually became one of the most publicly known and early users of this technology.
Electron diffraction is mostly used in the analysis of crystal structure of solids via microscopes. English physicist George Paget Thomson and Bell Labs’ own Clinton Joseph Davisson shared the 1937 Nobel Prize for Physics for their work.
Photovoltaic cells (PVCs) provided people with an alternative energy source that relied on one of the most abundant sources in nature: sunlight. It gave people the liberty to rely on a free energy source for some of their electrical needs. It also opened up possibilities of having electricity in places where electrical cables didn’t exist. It paved the way for free phone charging stations in public spaces, much like the one below, allowing people to be more mobile in remote locations and for longer periods of time without having to limit themselves to not using their technological devices.
Calculators were essentially the predecessors of computers as they were programmed machines that conducted mathematical functions. The development of calculators had a major impact on various fields including education. It sped up mathematical and scientific calculation processes by applying mathematics in a machine to calculate much harder equations using complex numbers to be done more easily.
SIGSALY, an invention of Alan Turing and A.B. Clark, intended to provide a secure and undetectable communication system during WWII. The system converted sound waves into mathematical expressions, taking snapshots of the sound waves and turning them into binary codes; thus, turning SIGSALY into what was called a “secret telephony.” Another remarkable outcome of having information in a digital format was to sustain quality. SIGSALY’s impact was two-fold: it contributed to the recording of sound in a transmittable way, as well as being one of the first examples of crypted use of information. Protection of information in the Information Age is of primal importance; becoming one of the most controversial topics of our current age with incidents such as Wikileaks and other acts of cyberterrorism.
The transistor is one of the most fundamental components of electronic devices. It enabled the existence of smaller radios, calculators and computers, mobile phones, 3D TVs, video games, and tablets. This marked the start of the Mobility Age where these smaller more compact products allowed information to be independent of restrictive elements such as wires. It also created a demand for cloud services as they became more and more popular. All of these put together, allowed for information to be available and accessible anytime, anywhere.
Some of the inventions happening at Bell Labs had a direct correlation with the goings on of the world at the time. The first half of the 1940's was spent in war; while most of the second half was spent suffering, and trying to recover from the ramifications of the war. The United Nations was established right after the war ended as a uniting entity for the involved countries. India, Pakistan, Israel and Vietnam became independent. The war sped up the development process of some technological findings such as the computer, nuclear power, and jet propulsion. Towards the end of the era, NATO was established (1949). The ‘40s also saw the invention of the microwave, Tupperware, radar, Velcro, Frisbee, the commercial TV, and The Jeep. In science, we saw the development of the quantum theory and the game theory.
This process enabled the manufacturing of highly pure materials. These purified materials were essential for manufacturing transistors. One of the major uses of this process is in increasing the lifetime of solar cells.
With the invention of the transatlantic cable, for the first time, people across continents could communicate to each other on a one-to-one basis. As the initial cables were laid down, there was only enough bandwidth for 24 phone calls at a time. It’s amazing how vastly this has changed, considering how ubiquitous it is today to have a phone call with anyone, anywhere, anytime.
While the world continued to recover from WWII, with some progress towards the end of the decade; countries began to experience clashes between new-found political regimes: capitalism vs. communism. After the war, the US was the most influential economic power in the world. Dwight D. Eisenhower was president at the time. The Space Race began alongside the launch of Sputnik 1 (1957). Alaska and Hawaii became states. Fidel Castro overthrew the current regime in Cuba and replaced it with communism. Brasilia, built in just under two years, became the capital city of Brazil. Scientists discovered the double-helix structure of DNA. The Geneva-based research institution CERN was established. The world’s first nuclear power plant opened in Moscow. Rock ‘n’ Roll replaced classic pop in music charts as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and others made a presence in the music scene.
Gas lasers are produced by charging an electric current through gas. This enabled a consistent light which then enabled the laser. Gas lasers are used in making holograms, writing on photosensitive material, and scanning bar codes. Holograms have a variety of uses; including applications in art, data storage, and security. Holography can be used to store large amounts of information which has transformed the comparatively limited capacity of CDs by providing a 3.9 TB of storage space (Hollographic Versatile Disc).
These metal oxide semi-conductor field effect transistors laid down the foundation for todays LSI’s (large-scale integrated circuits). The threshold voltage for this device is around 0.45 V.
Kenneth C. Knowlton, a known computer graphics pioneer, born in 1931, developed BELFIX (Bell Flicks) programming language at Bell Labs in 1963. Knowlton was also known as an artist working with mosaics in various mediums from sea shells to computer generated code and fonts.
Working with stereoscopic animation, Michael Noll created some of the first computer art, eventually taking his career to the White House as the President’s Science Advisor. Though now retired, Noll published many papers and articles during his long career that are available here.
Bell Labs scientists were awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The CBM is the oldest light we can see — dating farthest back in time and space around 14 billion years ago.
The counter-cultural trend during the sixties, along with a general air of rebelliousness with regards to music, clothing, and lifestyle (a.k.a. hippie culture) differentiated it vastly from other eras. Along with the decay of social order, the ‘60s brought an exploitation of sex and drugs, and an increased tolerance towards racism and sexism. In Africa, 32 countries gained independence from their European rule. A mass communist and socialist movement erupted in Europe. In 1961, Germans started building the Berlin Wall, dividing Berlin into two separate parts. The Cuban Missile Crisis took place in 1962. Two years later, China detonated its first atomic bomb. In 1963, as civil rights became a central issue, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the famous “I Have a Dream” speech. U.S. president John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. were assassinated in 1963 and 1968 respectively. The Space Race continued on as the Russians sent the first man, Yuri Gagarin, to space. In 1969, the U.S. led Apollo 11 mission successfully landed the first man on the moon. In science, the contraceptive pill for birth control was introduced. Additionally, the first successful heart transplant took place. The most popular movie of the era became the award-winning The Sound of Music.
The development of the C programming language was enabled by the development of Unix. This language is still one of the most widely used in contemporary programming.
This decade saw the continuance of political awareness, and the increase in women’s roles as ideas of feminism continued to spread. Hence, the end of the ‘70s saw the election of the first (and only) female prime minister of Britain: Margaret Thatcher (1979). The era was also described as the “me” decade in literature due to the clear shift towards individualism. This was also enhanced by the mobility provided by technological developments. Along with the Green Revolution, countries became more self-reliant on food. Stephen Hawkings developed his Hawking radiation theory on black holes. Stephen Jay Gould published his punctuated equilibrium theory on evolution. In 1973, doctors took the first MRI image. The first examples of genetically engineered species came forth with bacteria and mice. The first in vitro fertilization birth took place in 1978. The iconic Sony Walkman came out in 1978. The first e-mail was sent in 1971, and the first cell-phone call was made in 1973. Apple was found in 1977. Jazz rock (fusion), funk, and disco music came to popularity with leading bands such as: The Carpenters, Bee Gees, ABBA, and The Village People. Rock ’n’ Roll continued with Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Pink Floyd amongst many others. Notably, one of the most popular movie series of all time, The Godfather were filmed during the 70s.
While the Hall effect was discovered in 1879 by Edwin Hall, the fractional quantum Hall effect was not discovered until 1982 within research around the two dimensional qualities of electrons. This effect describes the Hall conductance of 2D electrons, and refers to a change in the certain electron values when under low temperatures and powerful magnetic fields.
This technique was developed in order to alter the particle temperatures of certain substances down to an near absolute zero state. There are multiple methods of achieving this but the most widely used one is Doppler Cooling. The use of this technique is mostly found in quantum physics.
Due to multiple debt crises, many countries suffered economically during the 1980's. During this time, IMF and the World Bank were instrumental in handing out loans to help these countries. The number of houses with TVs doubled. By the end of the decade, a million people were using the internet. Global Warming started becoming a public issue. Zimbabwe became independent from the UK in 1980, Canada in 1982, Australia and New Zealand in 1986. John Lennon was assassinated in December 1980. MTV launched in the US, airing pop stars like Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Duran Duran, Prince, Madonna, and Queen. Michael Jackson’s Thriller became the best-selling album of all time. Towards the end of the era, the hip-hop scene evolved, as well as Techno and House music. Ray-Ban Aviator sunglasses became a trend thanks to cameos in classics like Top Gun.
Even though this wasn’t the only wireless invention at the time, it laid down the groundwork for what now became known and used as wi-fi. This development was instrumental in providing significant contributions to the increased mobility of our current lifestyle. As well as increasing information access and making it much more easily shareable.
This 56K modem was developed to be able to download 56K/sec. During the 90's, this was the most prevalent method of using internet for individuals. This system required a digital connection to a telephone in order to be used. For the majority of the first years of commercial internet, these modems were common household products where losing internet connection every time the phone rang became a common experience.
The 1990's saw the rise of multiculturalism and alternative media. Grunge, Rave and Hip-Hop rose in popularity during this time, and spread throughout the world via the internet and TV. The dot.com bubble emerged in 1997 and onwards. The Gulf War and the tragedy of the Rwandan Genocide occurred during these years. Capitalism became prominent. The Clinton-Lewinsky scandal happened in 1998. Germany reunited East and West in 1990. The European Union formed in 1992. The first web browser was introduced in 1993. Apple started producing iMacs. CD-Rom drives and burners became standard for computers. Microsoft integrated Windows into every IBM computer, becoming widespread. Sun Microsystems developed Java. The Human Genome Project began. GPS became fully operational. Tattoos and body piercing gained popularity, as well as the “Californian lifestyle”. Pixar released the first fully CGI movie, Toy Story. Titanic became a cultural icon. Punk Pop overcame the radio waves with the formation of bands such as: Green Day, Weezer and The Offspring. Other famous bands that came out of the era were Nirvana, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead, The Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains. Freddie Mercury, Kurt Cobain, Tupac Shakur, and The Notorious B.I.G. died during the ‘90s greatly impacting society. J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series hit the stands in 1997.
The first organic laser that was developed used an organic dye as its gain medium. These types of lasers allow for very narrow laser line-widths, which increases preciseness.
The discovery of dark matter was enabled only after certain technological advancements occurred (i.e. the development of the telescope) due to the nature of the matter. It is a type of matter that doesn’t emit or absorb light or electromagnetic radiation. Dark matter and dark energy constitute 95% of the content of the universe.
Bell Labs remained busy in the 2000's, bringing the first DNA machine prototypes, and algorithms that made 3-D communication practical on a wide-scale. In August of 2008, Bell Labs took a step back from basic science, physics, and semiconductor research to focus instead on the ever-changing realm of high-speed electronics, wireless networks, nanotechnology, and software. Along with the prevalence of the internet, came globalization as the world came closer together, regardless of physical distances. There was an increase in demand for resources becoming scarce. The world saw the Global Financial Crisis during the 2000's. The attack of the World Trade Center took place on September 11, 2001, becoming one of the most publicized events of the decade, having both physical and psychological ramifications on a global scale. Soon after, The War on Terror and The War in Afghanistan were initiated. In 2002, The International Criminal Court was established. Al-Qaeda kept an ongoing terror throughout the era.
Now, in the 2010’s, we’ve seen Bell Labs transition even further under the guidance of Nokia beginning in April 2015. In addition, Bell Lab’s announced the innovation of their new technology dubbed XG-FAST that promises to break the “broadband Internet speed record with 10 gigabits per second transmission speeds.
Despite fewer truly innovative discoveries coming out of Bell Labs, the 91 year-old company is far from done inventing. In 2014, Markus Hofmann, the head of Bell Labs Research, told Douglas Coupland (as it appears in an excerpt in Wired):
“Bell Labs is a toolbox. Every day we ask ourselves: What do we want to build? And we can ask this knowing that what we build will have real world deployment through Alcatel-Lucent. Some people say the era of the big lab is over, but we don’t. The pressure is on Bell Labs to do the big things again. Incremental development doesn’t work anymore.”
In Conclusion
The importance of looking at the Bell Labs’ inventions in relation to the goings-on of the decade in which they took place, is to have a more thorough understanding of what people were doing, thinking, and experiencing at the time. As Steven Johnson repeatedly underlays, the importance of considering both the past events that occurred up until an innovation takes place, as well as the current ideologies and existing products; enables people to draw parallels or find new combinations of things by going through that analysis as part of their process. It is also interesting to see the parallels and the differences between where technology, and where people were at those specific points in the timeline of events. Sometimes, people were ahead of the technology. Whereas once the technology caught up and the majority of the most essential tools were there, it went through (and is still going through) a period of rapid and exponential expansion — making people the ones to catch up. In any case, we owe a lot of today’s technology to Bell Labs, without which, the world would definitely have been a different place. We can only hope Hoffman is right, and that we will see big things come out of Bell Labs again.
References: Johnson, Steven. How We Got to Now. Penguin Group, NY, 2014. Bell Labs. Coupland, Douglas. Kitten Clone: Inside Alcatel-Lucent. Visual Editions, London, 2014.
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