| Description |
sound files digital, mp3 file |
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Transcript : (162 leaves) ; 29 cm. |
| Series |
Chemical Heritage Foundation Oral history transcript ; 0668.
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| Note |
Interview conducted by David C. Brock and Christophe Lécuyer at Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. Murray Hill, New Jersey. |
| Summary |
Morris Tanenbaum grew up in Huntington, West Virginia, one of three children. His Jewish parents had come from Russia and Poland by way of Buenos Aires, Argentina; they owned a delicatessen, in which Morris worked after school. Tanenbaum chose to attend Johns Hopkins University because of its reputation for chemistry. He liked physical chemistry and physics; one of his professors, Clark Bricker, who was leaving for Princeton University, convinced Tanenbaum to accept a research assistantship there and to obtain a PhD. Tanenbaum worked on spectroscopy in Bricker's lab and the mechanical properties of metal single crystals in Walter Kauzmann's lab. After being awarded his PhD, Tanenbaum went to work at Bell Laboratories where he did the original studies of single crystal III-V semiconductors. He, with the assistance of Ernest Buehler, made the world's first silicon transistor. Working with Calvin Fuller, Tanenbaum invented the diffused base silicon transistor using solid-state diffusion. While at Bell Labs, Tanenbaum worked in Metallurgy and Materials Science, the Research Division, and the Electron Device Division. Western Electric recruited Tanenbaum to lead its new Engineering Research Center. There, he recruited PhD's in the physical sciences and engineering with an interest in applications for the manufacturing floor. He later became Vice President of Engineering for all of Western Electric and then Vice President for Transmission Equipment. Tanenbaum was called back to Bell Labs as Executive Vice President with responsibility for all of development. Then he moved to AT&T Corporate Offices as Senior Vice President of Engineering and Network Services. He later served as President of New Jersey Bell. In 1980, he was called back to AT&T as Executive Vice President for Administration. During that period, he was much involved in the Federal antitrust case against AT&T that was eventually settled by a Consent Degree that separated AT&T into several independent companies (the "Baby Bells") providing local telephone service and AT&T retaining Western Electric, most of Bell Labs, and the long distance services. His final position was CFO and Vice Chairman of the AT&T Board of Directors. |
| Cite As |
Morris Tanenbaum interviewed by David C. Brock and Christophe Lécuyer at Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. Murray Hill, New Jersey . (Philadelphia: Science History Institute, Oral History Transcript 0668). |
| Note |
Sound files Science History Institute. |
|
Transcript Science History Institute. |
| Access Restrictions |
No restrictions on access. Reproduction and use with permission. |
| Note |
Born in Huntington, West Virginia on 10 November 1928. Education: A.B., Chemistry, John Hopkins University (1949), Ph.D., Physical Chemistry, Princeton University (1952). Employment: 1952-1976 Bell Telephone Laboratories ; 1964-1975 Western Electric Company ; 1976-1978 1980-1984 AT&T Company Laboratory ; 1978-1980 New Jersey Bell Telephone Company ; 1984-1986 AT&T Communications ; 1986-1991 AT&T Corporation. |
| Indexes |
Transcript has been indexed. |
| Note |
Part or all of this item has been digitized by Science History Institute. |
| Subject(s) |
Tanenbaum, Morris 1928- -- Interviews.
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Shockley, William, 1910-1989.
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American Telephone and Telegraph Company.
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AT & T Bell Laboratories.
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Western Electric Company.
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Chemists -- Biography.
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Chemists -- Interviews.
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Electronic industries -- History.
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Silicon.
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| Genre |
Oral histories. lcgft
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Interviews. aat
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| Alternate Author |
Brock, David C., interviewer.
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Lécuyer, Christophe, interviewer.
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Chemical Heritage Foundation.
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| Alternate Title |
Morris Tanenbaum oral history interview |
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