The Origins of Silicon Valley: Why and How It Happened Here

The Saratoga Historical Foundation is sponsoring this lecture by Life Fellow and IEEE DL Paul Wesling. The story goes back to the 1910’s - to angel investors in new technology, the sinking of the Titanic, local ham radio operators trying to break RCA tube patents, Fred Terman and Stanford University, local invention of high-power tubes, WWII and radar, William Shockley’s mother living in Palo Alto, and the San Francisco Bay Area infrastructure that developed. These factors determined that the semiconductor and IC industries would also be located in the Santa Clara Valley and that the Valley would remain the world’s innovation center as new technologies emerged - computers, then software, mobile, biotech, virtual reality, autonomous vehicles, and now artificial intelligence - and we would become the model for innovation worldwide.
This non-technical presentation gives the colorful history of technology development and the people around Palo Alto who spread it across the Santa Clara Valley and beyond during and following WWII. Suitable for spouses, teenagers and college students, as well as entrepreneurs.

Speaker: Paul Wesling, Hewlett Packard, retired

Lecture begins at 7:00.  Register at weblink