School:Electronic engineering/Biography ELEC

John Bardeen (*May 23, 1908 – †January 30, 1991) 

An American physicist and electrical engineer, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics twice: first in 1956 with William Shockley and Walter Brattain for the invention of the transistor; and again in 1972 with Leon Neil Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer for a fundamental theory of conventional superconductivity known as the BCS theory.

The transistor revolutionized the electronics industry, allowing the Information Age to occur, and made possible the development of almost every modern electronical device, from telephones to computers to missiles. In 1990, Bardeen appeared on LIFE Magazine 's list of "100 Most Influential Americans of the Century."

But what greater honor can there be when each of us can look all around us and everywhere see the reminders of a man whose genius has made our lives longer, healthier and better.

— "Chicago Tribune" Editorial, February 3, 1991

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