Editing John Bardeen (section)

===Bell Labs===
[[File:Bardeen Shockley Brattain 1948.JPG|thumb|John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter Brattain at Bell Labs, 1948]]
In October 1945, Bardeen began work at [[Bell Labs]] as a member of a [[solid-state physics]] group led by [[William Shockley]] and chemist Stanley Morgan. Other personnel working in the group were [[Walter Brattain]], physicist [[Gerald Pearson]], chemist Robert Gibney, electronics expert Hilbert Moore and several technicians. He moved his family to [[Summit, New Jersey]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/truegeniuslifesc0000hodd |url-access=registration |title=True Genius: The Life and Science of John Bardeen |publisher=Joseph Henry Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/truegeniuslifesc0000hodd/page/117 117] |quote=Soon, however, life in Summit would become easy and rich for the Bardeens. |isbn=9780309084086 |last1=Daitch |first1=Vicki |last2=Hoddeson |first2=Lillian |year= 2002 }}</ref>

The assignment of the group was to seek a solid-state alternative to fragile glass [[vacuum tube]] amplifiers. Their first attempts were based on Shockley's ideas about using an external electrical field on a [[semiconductor]] to affect its conductivity. These experiments mysteriously failed every time in all sorts of configurations and materials. The group was at a standstill until Bardeen suggested a theory that invoked surface states that prevented the field from penetrating the semiconductor. The group changed its focus to study these surface states, meeting almost daily to discuss the work. The rapport of the group was excellent and ideas were freely exchanged.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/crystalfirebirth00rior |url-access=registration |title=Crystal Fire |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |page=[https://archive.org/details/crystalfirebirth00rior/page/127 127] |isbn=9780393041248 |last1=Riordan |author1-link=Michael Riordan (physicist)|first1=Michael |last2=Hoddeson |first2=Lillian |year=1997 }}</ref> By the winter of 1946, they had enough results that Bardeen submitted a paper on the surface states to ''[[Physical Review]]''. Brattain started experiments to study the surface states through observations made while shining a bright light on the semiconductor's surface. This led to several more papers (one of them co-authored with Shockley), which estimated the density of the surface states to be more than enough to account for their failed experiments. The pace of the work picked up significantly when they started to surround point contacts between the semiconductor and the conducting wires with [[electrolyte]]s. Moore built a circuit that allowed them to vary the frequency of the input signal easily and suggested that they use ''glycol borate'' (gu), a viscous chemical that did not evaporate. Finally, they began to get some evidence of power amplification when Pearson, acting on a suggestion by Shockley,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/crystalfirebirth00rior |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/crystalfirebirth00rior/page/132 132] |title=Crystal Fire: The Birth of the Information Age |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=9780393041248 |last1=Riordan |first1=Michael |last2=Hoddeson |first2=Lillian |author2-link=Lillian Hoddeson |year=1997 }}</ref> put a voltage on a droplet of gu placed across a [[p–n junction]].