"'Electronics' provides a welcome, comprehensive history of one of the late twentieth century's greatest technologies: electronic devices. Some of them, the laser and the microchip for example, have become household words, and yet their origins and operation are largely unknown to the general public. Other devices that form the heart of important electronic systems remain mysterious outside the field of engineering. "Electronics" surveys the histories of all these devices, showing how they relate to each other and to the world at large. The development of electronic devices brought about many of the most important historical events of the past fifty years, such as the introduction of television, the Cold War, the Space Race, the rise of Asian semiconductor manufacturers, and the emergence of the surveillance society. Connecting technology and events, "Electronics" also relates the fascinating stories of how scientists and engineers created and commercialized such devices as the transistor, the Magnetron tube used to power microwave ovens, the CRT (cathode ray tube), the laser, the first integrated circuit, the microprocessor, and memory chips." - back cover.