Foundations of Foundations of Silicon ValleySilicon Valley

James C. WilliamsJames C. Williams

Emeritus Professor, De Anza CollegeEmeritus Professor, De Anza College

Colonial California and the Colonial California and the origins of the Bay Area’s origins of the Bay Area’s

electronics industryelectronics industry

• California electric power

* absence of coal

* hydraulic engineering

* development of hydroelectricity and long-distance, high-tension power transmission

Technical organizationsTechnical organizations

• Technical Society of the Pacific Coast (1884)

• Pacific Coast Electric Transmission Association (1897)

• The Journal of Electricity (1895)

• A regional community of professional discourse

Education in ElectricityEducation in Electricity

• A. Van der Naillen's School of Practical Engineering and Heald's College (1890)

• University of California and Clarence L. Cory (1892)• Stanford University (1891) hired Albert P. Carmen, Princeton (1892)

Frederic Auten Combs Perrine Frederic Auten Combs Perrine (1862-1908)(1862-1908)

• Hired by Stanford in 1893 to teach electrical engineering, staying until 1900

• Edited The Journal of Electricity and Electrical Engineering (1895-1898)

• Chief Engineer, Standard Electric Power Company (1898-1900)

• President, Stanley Electrical Mfg. Company, Massachusetts (1900-1904)

Electra Powerhouse, 1899

Harris J. Ryan (1866-1934)Harris J. Ryan (1866-1934)

In 1905, Perrine in finally replaced by Ryan, the east coast’s best known researcher in electric transmission

• Ryan continues Perrine's close ties to power companies

• Brings high voltage labs to Stanford

1913

1926

• By 1914, California led the world in long-distance, high-tension transmission systems and maintained that leadership well into the 1920s

Frank George Baum (1870-1932)Frank George Baum (1870-1932)

• E.E. degree from Stanford, 1899

• Took over for Perrine and ran the EE program from 1898-1903

• Transmission and hydro chief at PG&E until 1923

• Patented “constant potential electric transmission system”

• In 1922, oversaw construction of the first 220,000 volt transmission line

• National Superpower proposed in Atlas of the U.S.A. Electric Power Industry (1923)

Wireless in the Bay AreaWireless in the Bay Area

• San Francisco Bay navigation hazards – fog and the Golden Gate

• Guglielmo

Marconi invents

the wireless in

1897

Cyril F. Elwell (1884-1963)Cyril F. Elwell (1884-1963)

• Ryan student at Stanford, 1907

• Works on wireless of Francis McCarty

• Demonstrates it in Palo Alto in 1908

• Elwell wires Vladimir Poulsen (1869- 1942) in Copenhagen

• Elwell buys Poulsen wireless rights

• David Starr Jordon, Charles D. Marx and John Casper Branner provide capital

• Demonstrations attract San Francisco investors

• Federal Telegraph Co. locates in Palo Alto in 1911

• Elwell organizes

a radio research

team headed by

Lee de Forest

(1873-1961)

Communities of interestCommunities of interest

• Federal Telegraph Co.’s spin-offs

The Radio Research Team

L-R: Douglas Perham Peter V. Jensen F. Albertus

• Commercial Wireless

Development Co (1910)

became Magnovox

• Fisher Research Labs

(metal detectors and

navigation aids)

• Litton Engineering

Laboratories (vacuum

tubes and tube production equipment)

Pridhim and Jensen

Other Bay Area companiesOther Bay Area companies

• Heintz and Kaufman (shortwave radio communications)

• Eitel and McCullough (radio tubes) … a spin-off from Heintz and Kaufman• Philo Farnsworth (television)

ConclusionConclusion

Geographic and economic

conditionsCommunities of

technical interest

University and industry cooperation

Regional capital and

investment

Electric power development

Radio

communications