Development of Modern Bipolar Transistors: A Personal Journey and Perspective

The point-contact transistor was invented in 1947 by Bardeen and Brattain
[1]
, and the sandwich-like BJT was invented by Shockley in 1948
[2]
. While point-contact transistors were made and used briefly for a few years, it is Shockley’s sandwich-like device structure that is commonly referred to as a
bipolar transistor
.