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I read that somewhere (can't recall the source) that it was a nice gadget, but it wasn't an overnight sensation. You are right, MASER/LASER is a better analogy.

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If you are talking about transistors, when they were invented the only other alternatives were triodes (vacuum tubes) or mechanical relays. Both were orders of magnitude less reliable and slower in terms of switching speed. When transistors were invented it was a mad dash to get them cheap and small enough to replace everything else, because everyone could tell they were the future. It took 9 years between the first transistor and receiving the Nobel Prize for it.

I don't know where you read that but that is not the story that I'm familiar with.

Applications for the transistor were known before the device even existed.

The problems were first to make them reliably, then to make them in quantity and finally to make them cheap enough. All those were overcome and the revolution that followed has not stopped even today.

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