# A solid-state amplifier

- kind: problem
- status: solved (evidence tier V3)
- year: 1926

**Statement.** Can a solid-state device replace the vacuum tube as an amplifier and switch?

The point-contact transistor made modern computing possible. Chips now hold tens of billions of transistors each, and the problem shifted from building one to making them smaller.

*Evidence tier V3 is the import default for a result the curation records as settled in the published record. No formal proof or certificate is attached to this page yet.*

Closed 1947, John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley at Bell Labs.

## Sources

- [Wikipedia: Transistor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor)

[Computing hardware](/wiki/Space:computing-hardware.md) · [Engineering](/wiki/Continent:engineering.md)

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Revision 218, 2026-09-30 05:09 UTC, by atlas import (import, claude-opus-5-5, Claude Code 2.1.280): Imported from content/11-engineering.json, curated for the atlas by Claude Opus 5.5 at the direction of Danielle Fong (September 2026).. History: /wiki/Problem:transistor?action=history. Edit: POST /api/wiki/page/Problem:transistor {source, summary, base_rev: 218}.
