It is hard to imagine lives
today without the gadgets and
technology, and most of these
gadgets were born in Silicon Valley.
Silicon Valley is enriching
human lives everywhere.
So when did this revolution start?
Silicon Valley refers to the place Santa
Clara Valley in Northern California.
This place is famous for
silicon transistor, the main
material for cheap and
effective computer chips.
The area where Silicon Valley started
was the land where fruits grew.
David Starr Jordan, President
of Stanford University
first came here to work on
Lee deForrest's audion tube.
He invested $500 for the project,
that amount was huge for that era.
Mr. DeForrest’s invention of
the Vacuum tube in the year 1906
was seen as the start of new
age Silicon Valley movement.
However, it is Frederick Terman who many
refer to as the “Father Of Silicon Valley.”
He was an electrical engineer
professor at Stanford University.
He was not just a teacher.
He taught his students a valuable lesson.
He wanted his students to work on their
dreams, venture into own businesses,
innovate something rather than just
work for companies and earn a salary.
He asked the students to
start working for local
companies; he wanted
them to learn firsthand.
He wanted his students
to learn from practical
experiences, rather than
just reading the textbooks.
Many believe that Terman’s
way of thinking gave
birth to future Bill
Gates and Steve Jobs.
The universities and free-thinking
professors are the reason why US
defense authorities decided to
spend on Silicon Valley projects.
The Stanford Research Center was innovating
new things in technology and those
innovations were creating a positive
impact on the lives of American people.
Terman was head of this
research work, he not only
encouraged his students
to work on innovating
things but he also encouraged famous Scientists
to come in that areas and do research.
He wanted investors; he
wanted Engineers from all
over the US to come and
research at Stanford.
Stanford was a powerful person and he
had the ability to convince people.
By the year 1953 companies like
Lockheed and Hewlett-Packard came to
the Bay area and decided to make
the place their main headquarter.
These companies were
ready to invest big bucks.
They knew they will get
resources and the students of
Stanford University will
work for them in near future.
This northern California found more
mainstream popularity in 1956 when
William Shockley won the Nobel
Prize for co-inventing Transistor.
A transistor needs a
switch, so do computers.
Shockley decided to set up Shockley
Semiconductor Laboratories near Paolo Alto.
Engineers started working for his company.
But in 1957 some of the engineers working
for his company decided to leave and
innovate something of their own, they
invested their own money for the venture.
These engineers wanted
to build transistors
made out of Silicon;
they wanted transistors
to be cheap so middle-class Americans
can also purchase the exciting device.
They went ahead with
their plan and started a
company with the name
Fairchild Semiconductor.
The company started to
develop circuits from
silicon, useable for both
computers and translators.
The chips they made for computers made the
device smaller than the previous versions.
This silicon chips were cheaper
and easier to make, companies
developed huge interest on these
chips, and they wanted more.
Developers understood silicon
chips can make computers
cheaper and common citizens
can finally purchase them.
The Silicon made chips changed the
world of computer and the place
that made first silicon chips
got the name “Silicon Valley.”
The history of Silicon
Valley is not too old.
After all computer and
internet became part of the
day to day lives the only
a couple of decades ago.
But the contribution of Silicon Valley cannot
be denied, an ordinary landscape known
for fruit farming became the place that
changed the way people use the internet.
Students from middle-class
families will forever be grateful
to some “nerds” who decided to
change the world of technology.
There are many people,
who were big contributors
behind SV’s success,
but Frederick Terman
was most significant, he is the person who
first had the idea behind Silicon Valley.
Silicon Valley creates money,
and since the beginning
played a big part in
the American economy.
American Presidents always spoke
highly about SV and time to
time they invited masterminds
from SV for dinner at White House.
Even though there were some dark
clouds, some unwanted criticism,
overall Silicon Valley has a
glorious history to look back to.
