The Electronics Revolution (eBook)

Inventing the Future

J.B. Williams (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2017 | 1st ed. 2017
X, 286 Seiten
Springer International Publishing (Verlag)
978-3-319-49088-5 (ISBN)

Infos

This book is about how electronics, computing, and telecommunications have profoundly changed our lives - the way we work, live, and play. It covers a myriad of topics from the invention of the fundamental devices, and integrated circuits, through radio and television, to computers, mobile telephones and GPS. Today our lives are ruled by electronics as they control the home and computers dominate the workspace. We walk around with mobile phones and communicate by email. Electronics didn't exist until into the twentieth century. 

The industrial revolution is the term usually applied to the coming of steam, railways and the factory system. In the twentieth century, it is electronics that has changed the way we gather our information, entertain ourselves, communicate and work. This book demonstrates that this is, in fact, another revolution. 

John Williams took an electrical engineering degree at Imperial College, which led him into the design of electronic control and instrumentation equipment, and he became a Chartered Engineer. After working for a number of companies, including AVO/Megger and gaining seniority, he went into engineering management and later co-founded Ingenion Design Ltd to produce electronic instrumentation, exposing him to many different industries varying from washing machines to nuclear power stations.

Inhalt

Contents 5
Acknowledgments 7
Contents 8
1: Introduction 11
Note 14
2: Missed Opportunities: The Beginnings of Electronics 15
Notes 23
3: From Wireless to Radio 25
Notes 32
4: Seeing by Electricity: Development of Television 34
Notes 44
5: Seeing a Hundred Miles: Radar 47
Notes 55
6: The ‘Box’: Television Takes Over 57
Notes 64
7: Spinning Discs: Recorded Music 67
Notes 76
8: The Crystal Triode: The Transistor 79
Notes 89
9: Pop Music: Youth Culture in the 1950s and 1960s 91
Notes 96
10: From People to Machines: The Rise of Computers 97
Notes 105
11: Chips into Everything: Integrated Circuits 107
Notes 116
12: From Signboards to Screens: Displays 118
Notes 126
13: Distributing Time: Clocks and Watches 128
Notes 134
14: From Desktop to Pocket: Calculators 136
Notes 144
15: Shrinking Computers: Microprocessors 146
Notes 154
16: Instant Cooking: Microwave Ovens 155
Notes 161
17: Essentials or Toys: Home Computers 163
Notes 170
18: Computers Take Over the Workplace 172
Notes 180
19: From Clerks to Xerography: Copiers 181
Notes 189
20: Shrinking the World: Communication Satellites 190
Notes 202
21: Personal Communicators: Mobile Phones 204
Notes 213
22: Going Online: The Internet 215
Notes 223
23: Glass to the Rescue: Fiber Optics 225
Notes 234
24: Towards Virtual Money: Cards, ATMs and PoS 236
Notes 243
25: Saving TV Programmes: Video Recording 244
Notes 251
26: Electronics Invades Photography: Digital Cameras 253
Notes 259
27: Seeing Inside the Body: Electronics Aids Medicine 261
Notes 268
28: Knowing Where You Are: GPS 270
Notes 278
29: The Electronics Revolution 280
Notes 284
ChapBM1 285
Bibliography 285
Index 288

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 25.5.2017
• Reihe/Serie: Popular Science
• Reihe/Serie: Popular Science
• Reihe/Serie: Springer Praxis Books
• Reihe/Serie: Springer Praxis Books
• Zusatzinfo: X, 286 p. 68 illus., 4 illus. in color.
• Verlagsort: Cham
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik ► Technik
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Informatik
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Elektrotechnik / Energietechnik
• Schlagworte: Development of electricity • Energy grid history • History of electricity • Household appliances and electricity • Media in age of electricity • Transport and electricity • Uses of electricity for communication
• ISBN-10: 3-319-49088-5 / 3319490885
• ISBN-13: 978-3-319-49088-5 / 9783319490885