History of the transistor about 15 volts". Brattain and H. R. Moore made a demonstration to several of their colleagues and managers at Bell Labs on the afternoon of 23 December 1947, often given as the birth date of the transistor. The "PNP point-contact germanium transistor" operated as a speech amplifier with a power gain of 18 in that trial. In 1956 John Bardeen, Walter Houser Brattain, and William Bradford Shockley were honored with the Nobel Prize in Physics "for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect". Twelve people are mentioned as directly involved in the invention of the transistor
Board of Invention and Research Board of Invention and Research The Board of Invention and Research (BIR) was a British expert-level committee, initiated by the Admiralty of the Royal Navy. Established in 1915, the board was responsible for soliciting expert scientific assistance to solve tactical and technical problems. The Board first met on 19 July 1915 at the Whitehall Rooms in the Metropole Hotel, and remained based at the Metropole until the board and its scientific facilities were moved to permanent headquarters at Victory House on Cockspur Street. Chaired by Sir Jackie Fisher, former First Sea Lord, the BIR recruited of a number of scientists