Gerald L. Pearson (March 31, 1905 – October 25, 1987) was a physicist whose work on silicon rectifiers at

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial Research and development, research and scientific developm ...

led to the invention of the

solar cell A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon.

. In 2008, he was inducted into the

National Inventors Hall of Fame The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a U.S. patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also oper ...

Biography

Pearson was born in Salem, Oregon. He took a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics from Willamette University and a master's degree in physics from Stanford University. From 1929 he worked as a research physicist at Bell Labs and his early work on temperature-sensitive resistors led to 13 patents on

thermistor A thermistor is a type of resistor whose resistance is strongly dependent on temperature, more so than in standard resistors. The word thermistor is a portmanteau of ''thermal'' and ''resistor''. Thermistors are divided based on their conduction ...

s. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

he was part of

William Shockley William Bradford Shockley Jr. (February 13, 1910 – August 12, 1989) was an American physicist and inventor. He was the manager of a research group at Bell Labs that included John Bardeen and Walter Brattain. The three scientists were jointl ...

's group, where his experimental results were essential in developing models of

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way. ...

behaviour. In 1946, acting on a suggestion by Shockley he put a voltage on a droplet of glycol borate (gu) placed across a P-N junction producing the first evidence of power amplification in the search for the

transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch ...

. In 1954 his work on silicon rectifiers led to the first practical

photovoltaic cell A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon.

(solar cell), together with

Daryl Chapin Daryl Muscott Chapin (21 July 1906 – 19 January 1995) was an American physicist, best known for co-inventing solar cells in 1954 during his work at Bell Labs alongside Calvin S. Fuller and Gerald Pearson. For this, he was inducted into the Nati ...

and

Calvin Souther Fuller Calvin Souther Fuller (May 25, 1902 – October 28, 1994) was an American physical chemist at AT&T Bell Laboratories where he worked for 37 years from 1930 to 1967. Fuller was part of a team in basic research that found answers to physical cha ...

. He took early retirement from Bell in 1960 to take up the position of Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford setting up a research program on

compound semiconductor Semiconductor materials are nominally small band gap insulators. The defining property of a semiconductor material is that it can be compromised by doping it with impurities that alter its electronic properties in a controllable way. Because of ...

Awards and honors

In 1964, Pearson received the Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet ...

References

External links

Oral history interview transcript with Gerald Pearson on 23 August 1976, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearson, Gerald 1905 births 1987 deaths 20th-century American physicists People from Salem, Oregon Willamette University alumni Stanford University alumni Stanford University faculty 20th-century American inventors Fellows of the American Physical Society