[TUHS] bell labs murray hill artifacts

[TUHS] bell labs murray hill artifacts

[ron minnich via TUHS]

where's the shockley transistor?

and the map of the US showing the Bell System empire, with a light for each
central office?

aside: the old RCA labs building is still there in princeton, and the 7
Emmys are still there in the decaying lobby. But the RCA museum, including
the TV camera used on Apollo 15 and signed by the astronauts, has been
broken up and scattered.

Where is the murray hill history?

[TUHS] Re: bell labs murray hill artifacts

[James Johnston via TUHS]

When Lucent took over MH, the museum in the front was scattered to the
wind. I have no idea what happened to the Stowkowsky (sp?) recordings, the
"first talking movie" recording, artificial larynx, and the like.  I know
that the leadership regarded them as "stuck in the past" and ripped stuff
out wholesale. After the 1996 split, I was no longer welcome at MH, so I
can't say much more about anything inside the security zone.

On Fri, Sep 12, 2025 at 11:34 AM ron minnich via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org> wrote:

> where's the shockley transistor?
>
> and the map of the US showing the Bell System empire, with a light for each
> central office?
>
> aside: the old RCA labs building is still there in princeton, and the 7
> Emmys are still there in the decaying lobby. But the RCA museum, including
> the TV camera used on Apollo 15 and signed by the astronauts, has been
> broken up and scattered.
>
> Where is the murray hill history?
>


-- 
James D. (jj) Johnston

Former Chief Scientist, Immersion Networks

[TUHS] Re: bell labs murray hill artifacts

[Rob Pike via TUHS]

The Shockley-Bardeen-Brattain (sic) transistor you're referring to was just
a replica anyway. The original was lost long ago as part of normal lab
activity.

-rob


On Sat, Sep 13, 2025 at 4:24 AM ron minnich via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org> wrote:

> where's the shockley transistor?
>
> and the map of the US showing the Bell System empire, with a light for each
> central office?
>
> aside: the old RCA labs building is still there in princeton, and the 7
> Emmys are still there in the decaying lobby. But the RCA museum, including
> the TV camera used on Apollo 15 and signed by the astronauts, has been
> broken up and scattered.
>
> Where is the murray hill history?
>

[TUHS] Re: bell labs murray hill artifacts

[ron minnich via TUHS]

well, there goes that illusion!

On Fri, Sep 12, 2025 at 5:11 PM Rob Pike <robpike@gmail.com> wrote:

> The Shockley-Bardeen-Brattain (sic) transistor you're referring to was
> just a replica anyway. The original was lost long ago as part of normal lab
> activity.
>
> -rob
>
>
> On Sat, Sep 13, 2025 at 4:24 AM ron minnich via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org>
> wrote:
>
>> where's the shockley transistor?
>>
>> and the map of the US showing the Bell System empire, with a light for
>> each
>> central office?
>>
>> aside: the old RCA labs building is still there in princeton, and the 7
>> Emmys are still there in the decaying lobby. But the RCA museum, including
>> the TV camera used on Apollo 15 and signed by the astronauts, has been
>> broken up and scattered.
>>
>> Where is the murray hill history?
>>
>

[TUHS] Re: bell labs murray hill artifacts

[Russ Cox via TUHS]

In late 2019, at the time of the Unix 50th celebration, Nokia still had
archivists on staff. They were organized enough to pull out quite a few of
the Unix room artifacts for display (in a different room). It has been
almost six years now, of course, but I would hope they still have those
archives.

Best,
Russ

[TUHS] Re: bell labs murray hill artifacts

[Douglas McIlroy via TUHS]

FWIW, I corresponded with the archivist a few months ago.

Doug

On Sat, Sep 13, 2025 at 11:40 AM Russ Cox via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org> wrote:
>
> In late 2019, at the time of the Unix 50th celebration, Nokia still had
> archivists on staff. They were organized enough to pull out quite a few of
> the Unix room artifacts for display (in a different room). It has been
> almost six years now, of course, but I would hope they still have those
> archives.
>
> Best,
> Russ