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Birth of The Transistor: A video history of Japan's electronic industry. (Part 1)

RC286 · 1.2M views · 2013-11-15 · 40:43

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Overview

First part of a four-part video history of Japan's electronics industry, covering the birth of the transistor and the rise of Japanese semiconductors. It appears to draw on NHK documentary material.

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Recommended in documentary and semiconductor-history threads as a detailed look at Japan's chip industry.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 3 months · HN mentions 2018–2022

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What people said

JKCalhoun · 2022-07 · Recommendation

There is a four-part documentary I saw on YouTube that went into much more (fascinating) detail. Part 1: [VIDEO] Part 2: [LINK] Part 3: [LINK] Part 4: [LINK]

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rmrfstar · 2020-06 · Recommendation

This is bad read on the history of innovation. I offer two counter-examples, though there are many more: (1) Japanese semiconductor industry, for which there is an excellent NHK documentary [1]. (2) After WW2, the British invited Soviet engineers to tour jet engine factories as a token of good faith. The engineers documented the factory layout, and wore adhesive on their shoes to gather metal filings for later analysis. A few years later, Mig-15's were shooting American planes out of the sky over Korea. A similar example: the British transferred huge bodies of knowledge to US aircraft engine manufacturers during WW2. This laid the foundation for the industry's future success. [1] [VIDEO]

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newman8r · 2018-09 · Recommendation

I wouldn't call it the best documentary, but I think people here will like it, it's a 4 part documentary: "A Video History of Japan's Electronic Industry" I. Birth of the transformer: [VIDEO] II. Circuits in stone: [LINK] III. Calculator wars: [LINK] IV. Tech Giant: [LINK]

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Sources

Video by RC286, played through YouTube.

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