The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation (review)

In the opening sentence of The Idea Factory, Jon Gertner states, “This is a book about the origins of modern communication as seen through the adventures of several men who spent their careers working at Bell Labs” (p. 1). Gertner goes on to explain that the Bell Labs environment was an incubator of innovation and offers a narrative documenting many of the transitional technologies of the 20th century that were created from within this culture. Among the best known are the transistor, methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light, Charge Coupled Device (CCD) semiconductor imaging sensors and the discovery of the predicted level of background cosmic radiation left over from the Big Bang. It is often stated, and Gertner reiterates, that creativity thrived at Bell Labs because the leaders of the company set up an arena that encouraged employees in different fields to work together. Another reason Gertner expounds upon is that the Labs’ success was due to the way that employees enjoyed significant freedom in pursuing projects. This was possible because Ma Bell’s monopoly and the guaranteed income it generated meant that there was little pressure to restrict the projects to foreseeably money-making innovations.

AT&T’s monopoly, which ended in 1982, was put in place when the U.S. Congress passed the Willis-Graham Act of 1921. This legislation exempted the company from federal antitrust laws, allowing the company to function as a government-mandated “natural monopoly.” The premise behind the law was that AT&T inhabited a problem-rich environment because they needed to invent from scratch everything that we associate with the telephone industry (dial tones, hang-up hooks, telephone ringers, etc.). This unique set of circumstances allowed the monopoly to develop a manufacturing entity, Western Electric—the sole provider of equipment—and a research and development arm, Bell Telephone Laboratories (Bell Labs). Gertner takes us through various inventions and episodes in the history of the Labs, which still function today. Topics include how the design of the Murray Hill campus aided interdisciplinary exchange, the laying of the transatlantic cable, Echo and Telstart, and more.

Reviews Panel: Allan Graubard, Amy Ione, Anastasia Filippoupoliti, Annick Bureaud, Anna B. Creagh, Anthony Enns, Aparna Sharma, Boris Jardine, Brian Reffin Smith, Catalin Brylla, Chris Cobb, Claudia Westermann, Claudy Opdenkamp, Craig Harris, Craig J. Hilton, Dene Grigar, Eduardo Miranda, Elizabeth McCardell, Elizabeth Straughan, Ellen Pearlman, Enzo Ferrara, Eugene Thacker, Florence Martellini, Flutor Troshani, Franc Chamberlain, Fred Andersson, Frieder Nake, George Gessert, George K. Shortess, Giovanna Costantini, Hannah Drayson, Hannah Rogers, Harriet Hawkins, Ian Verstegen, Jac Saorsa, Jack Ox, Jacques Mandelbrojt, Jan Baetens, Jennifer Ferng, John F. Barber, John Vines, Jon Bedworth, Jonathan Zilberg, Jung A. Huh, Jussi Parikka, K. Blassnigg, Kathleen Quillian, Kieran Lyons, Lara Schrijver, Lisa M. Graham, Martha Blassnigg, Martha Patricia Nino, Martyn Woodward, Maureen A. Nappi, Michael Mosher, Michael Punt, Mike Leggett, Ornella Corazza, Paul Hertz, Richard Kade, Rob Harle, Robert A. Mitchell, Roger Malina, Roy Behrens, Sean Cubitt, Simone Osthoff, Sonya Rapoport, Stefaan van Ryssen, Stephen Petersen, Valérie Lamontagne, Wilfred Arnold, Yvonne Spielmann, Zainub Verjee

The chapters unfold along the lines Gertner outlines in his opening sentence, with the focus centered on a few especially significant people who thrived within Bell Labs (e.g. Claude Shannon, Jim Fisk, Melvin Kelly, William Baker, John Pierce, William Shockley). Overall, The Idea Factory reads more like a narrative documenting the rise and fall of Bell Labs, which I assume was the author’s intention, than a study of how the work at Bell Labs was a part of a larger revolution in the 20th century. Because Gertner focused on the Labs’ story through looking at “heroes,” rather than adopting a more systemic approach, the Labs’ impact on the culture as a whole is underempha-sized. He mentions that at its peak, in the 1960s, Bell Labs employed nearly 15,000 people, including some 1,200...