Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of interviewing my grandmother over the phone. Hearing her perspective on how the world functioned before semiconductors were everywhere, both funny and eye-opening. At first, she wasn’t even sure what a semiconductor was. When I explained that they’re the invisible devices inside everything from cell phones to TVs to modern cars, she laughed and said, "Well, no wonder I didn’t know, I just use the things, not build them." That got the ball rolling, and she started sharing what life was like before all of these inventions.
One of the first things she mentioned was television. As a child, she had a black and white TV with maybe a 12-inch screen. She told me how it needed time to “warm up,” and sometimes the picture would roll or flicker until she gave it a good smack on the side. I couldn’t stop laughing at the idea that fixing your TV back then sometimes meant hitting it. She also remembered how owning a TV at all was a big deal in her neighborhood. Not every family had one, so sometimes people would gather at a friend’s house to watch a special program together. The television wasn’t just entertainment; it was a social event.
Phones, too, were a very different experience. She explained something called a “party line,” where multiple families shared the same phone connection. If you stayed on the line too long, your neighbors might cut in or worse, quietly listen in. Today we joke about the government listening to our calls, but back then it was literally your neighbor two houses down who might be eavesdropping. Phone calls were shorter and often reserved for important messages, because lingering on the line meant taking up a resource other people might need. It made me realize that communication was not as casual as it is today. Every phone call mattered.
When it came to entertainment, her stories painted a very different world. Every kid was outside during the summer, making friends on the street. If there were disagreements, you worked them out in person. In the winter, kids would build snowmen and throw snowballs until their hands went numb. And if you weren’t outside, you were inside reading. My grandmother loved books, and her passion for reading eventually led her to study linguistics in college. She even dreamed of traveling the world teaching languages. Hearing that made me think about how much childhood dreams have shifted. Many kids today
want careers in social media or content creation, while their dream was tied to books and teaching.
These days, my grandma has fully embraced technology. She jokes that she’s an iPad kid now. Ever since she got her first iPad back in 2012, it’s been her favorite device. She uses it to read books, play word games, check the news, and pretty much handle her daily tasks. What once required libraries, newspapers, and separate machines is now packed into a thin piece of glass she holds in her hands. Seeing her use it so effortlessly is a reminder of how powerful and accessible semiconductor technology has become.
Thinking about her stories made me reflect on how semiconductors actually reshaped the world. A semiconductor is a material, usually silicon, that can act as both a conductor and an insulator depending on how it is treated. This property makes it perfect for controlling the flow of electricity in circuits. By arranging billions of tiny transistors on a single chip, engineers can create integrated circuits that perform calculations, store data, and run complex programs. The idea of packing millions, and now billions, of components into a tiny chip is mind-blowing when compared to what came before.
Before semiconductors, early computers like the ENIAC, built in the 1940s, used vacuum tubes. Picture a giant room 160 square meters filled with 18,000 glass tubes that glowed like little light bulbs. The machine weighed 30 tons, consumed enormous amounts of power, and required constant maintenance. And yet, its computing power is now dwarfed by a chip that fits in the palm of your hand. Vacuum tubes operate by heating up and controlling electron flow in empty spaces. They were fragile, hot, and inefficient. Semiconductors replaced them with solid-state transistors carved into materials like silicon. Instead of bulky glass tubes, electrons moved through tiny junctions inside crystals. This single shift enabled devices to be faster, cooler, smaller, and more reliable.
The first big step was the invention of the transistor in 1947 by John Bardeen, William Shockley, and Walter Brattain at Bell Labs. Their breakthrough replaced vacuum tubes with something far smaller and sturdier. Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments and Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor jointly developed the integrated circuit, which combined multiple transistors into a single chip. This opened the door to smaller computers, radios, and eventually the personal electronics we use every day. In 1971, Intel introduced the first commercial microprocessor, the 4004, which incorporated the power of a computer's central processing unit onto a chip that was the size of a fingernail. Each of these inventions built on the latest, pushing technology forward at a rapid pace. Gordon Moore noted that the number of transistors on a chip seemed to double every few years, an idea that became known as Moore’s Law. For decades, this prediction held true, and it explains why devices went from room-sized machines to pocket-sized smartphones in just a few generations.
Today, semiconductors are everywhere. They run inside cars, airplanes, medical devices, and household appliances. They are in the street's traffic lights and the satellites orbiting Earth. Without them, modern life would appear unrecognizable. For students, they make higher education accessible through laptops and online resources. For adults, they create jobs, industries, and entire economies. For scientists, they can create fields like quantum computing and artificial intelligence.
For my grandmother, the journey from smacking a TV to playing word games on her iPad is almost magical. For me, it is a reminder of how far technology has come in just a few generations. Semiconductors have revolutionized communication, education, and entertainment, and they have become the foundation of modern society. But as much as semiconductors changed the world, I cannot help but wonder what is next. If my grandmother's childhood was the prior semiconductors era, and mine is the entire silicon era, perhaps my grandchildren will soon ask me what life was like before artificial intelligence was incorporated into everything.
About the author: My name is Ondre Quest Chester. I'm a third-year electrical engineering student. Being in the EE program has been an amazing opportunity. It's allowed me to travel around the USA and work for some great companies (e.g., Webcor, Toyota, and Lockheed Martin), which have all really tested my engineering knowledge. It has also given me the opportunity to work under Dr. Hui Cai in my optoelectronics/nanostructure research this semester, where I have learned how to synthesize MoS₂ (molybdenum disulfide) crystals. Although the material is strenuous and difficult, you only learn through challenging, difficult times. I enjoy hiking, vlogging, and hanging out with friends when I'm not studying.
Cited Sources
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“Semiconductor Manufacturers - IEEE IRDSTM.” Irds.ieee.org, irds.ieee.org/topics/semiconductor-manufacturers.
“The History of Semiconductor.” Nanotec Museum, www.tel.com/museum/exhibition/history/.
