In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 1898
- Died
- 1987
- Birthplace
- Pennsylvania
- Country
- United States
- Nationality
- Not independently established
- Known for
- Russell Ohlโs investigation of silicon rectifiers revealed a light-sensitive pโn junction that helped establish the foundations of semiconductor devices.
- Field
- Semiconductor researcher
Why this life matters
Russell Ohlโs investigation of silicon rectifiers revealed a light-sensitive pโn junction that helped establish the foundations of semiconductor devices.
Timeline
Key moments
Radio research leads toward materials
Russell Ohl was born in Pennsylvania in 1898 and studied at Pennsylvania State University. Radio drew his attention toward the behaviour of electronic materials. After military service and other employment, he worked at AT&T before joining Bell Laboratories in 1927. His career moved from questions about receivers and detection toward the properties of crystals themselves. The path is important because his later junction work emerged within a practical search for materials able to perform at frequencies where existing components presented difficulties.
A surprising silicon sample
In 1940 Ohl tested a silicon specimen whose response changed strongly under illumination. Different regions of the sample also behaved differently under a probing contact. The Computer History Museum relates these observations to a boundary between regions with different impurities. Work with Jack Scaff helped connect those differences with electron-rich and electron-deficient behaviour. The result was not a complete transistor appearing at once, but an experimental opening toward the pโn junction as a structure whose electrical behaviour could be investigated and used.
Sources for this section: [3]
An extended research career
Ohl continued studying semiconductor materials, purification and controlled impurities, remaining at Bell until 1958. His later oral history recounts this work and his view of its importance, while the surviving papers include internal memoranda, calculations and graphs. He died in 1987. His contribution lies in recognising significance in a specimen that initially appeared irregular and in pursuing material questions that later device development depended upon. The biography also shows why an observation, its physical explanation, a patent and a commercial product should be treated as related but separate achievements.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Russell Ohl
- What is Russell Ohl known for?
- Russell Ohlโs investigation of silicon rectifiers revealed a light-sensitive pโn junction that helped establish the foundations of semiconductor devices.
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Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
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