The future began 75 years ago with the invention of something small that’s now considered the most manufactured item in human history and the biggest thing since fire. This is a Marketplace special report on the birth of the transistor, which happened in New Jersey on Dec. 16, 1947 at Bell Telephone Laboratories. Bell Labs was at that time the research arm of the telephone monopoly AT&T. But what were the other ingredients needed for this place to become a hotspot for innovation? Why did it take years for the transistor to find a home inside the first commercial pocket radio? How did the transistor contribute to the rise of Silicon Valley? Transistors defined the last half of the 20th century and nearly the first quarter of the century we live in now. We spent some time exploring the ecosystems of innovation that created this world.

“The first digital use of the transistor for consumers was in a calculator,” says Rick Bensene, curator of the Old Calculator Web Museum.

Mohamed Atalla of Egypt and Dawon Kahng of Korea are responsible for the technology that helped harness the transistor’s power.

Silicon Valley exists for a number of reasons. Chief among them might be the mother of a Nobel Prize winner.

The transistor starts to shine when Texas Instruments asks Regency to make a radio for more mobile listening.

It’s responsible for the transistor, information theory, pioneering satellite work and more.

Bell Labs was the research arm of AT&T, a monopoly at the time the transistor was invented.

The transistor was born in 1947 at Bell Labs in New Jersey. We’re looking into the culture of innovation that made it possible.