The Age of Vacuum Tubes: Merging with Digital Computing [Historical]

Wartime efforts aimed at developing superior technologies provided a major boost to vacuum tube development during and after World War II (WWII). The demand for tubes capable of generating microwaves for radar led to the development of the improved cavity-type magnetron in 1940 by John Randall (1905-1984) and Henry Boot (1917-1983) at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. This device was instrumental in ensuring the Allied Forces strategic superiority [1], [2]. After the war, such radar systems allowed far safer air and sea transportation and opened the way to new fields of scientific research.