The Birth Of Silicon Valley (timeline) | Hacker News Reader

The Birth Of Silicon Valley (timeline)

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59 pointsmirceagoia13 comments

They anchored the start of Silicon Valley with Hewlett Packard. I think that Federal Telegraph 1909 founding is a much better starting point, See Timothy J. Sturgeon’s "How Silicon Valley Came to Be" where he notes:

The fact that the San Francisco Bay Area’s electronics industry began close to the turn of the Twentieth Century should lay to rest the notion that industrialization and urbanization on the scale of Silicon Valley can be quickly induced in other areas. Silicon Valley is nearly 100 years old. It grew out of a historically and geographically specific context that cannot be recreated. The lesson for planners and economic developers is to focus on long-term, not short-term developmental trajectories. Silicon Valley was the fastest growing region in the United States during the late 1970s and early 1980s; but that growth came out of a place, not a technology. Silicon Valley’s development is intimately entwined with the long history of industrialization and innovation in the larger San Francisco Bay Area.

See http://web.mit.edu/ipc/publications/pdf/00-014.pdf

Thanks for that insight about the long term nature of Silicon Valley's development. And thanks for the tip about Federal Telegraph. I must confess I hadn't heard of them before - that's a fascinating bit of history, and I will read more about them.

I was curious to know where they were located and found the answer on this great page of photos, so I thought I'd share it:

http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/svtour.html

There is actually a CA Historical marker for the site from http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=21522

NO. 836 PIONEER ELECTRONICS RESEARCH LABORATORY – This is the original site of the laboratory and factory of Federal Telegraph Company, founded in 1909 by Cyril F. Elwell. Here, Dr. Lee de Forest, inventor of the three-element radio vacuum tube, devised the first vacuum tube amplifier and oscillator in 1911-13. Worldwide developments based on this research led to modern radio communication, television, and the electronics age. Location: In sidewalk, SE corner of Channing Ave and Emerson St, Palo Alto

I blogged about this in http://www.skmurphy.com/blog/2008/11/05/steve-blank-on-secre... because Blank also anchored the start with HP.

From Varian Associates, the Varians were originally Irish, Ginzton was originally Ukrainian.

Shockley was British.

Of the Traitorous Eight, Grinich was Croatian, Hoerni was Swiss, and Kleiner (yes, that Kleiner) was Austrian.

Good thing they got visas.

Agree with the general sentiment, but the Varians were American-born (upstate New York), so no visas needed. Their parents were indeed Irish immigrants, though.

Shockley was born in London, but his parents were U.S. citizens and he grew up in Palo Alto.

When I first moved here my favorite introduction to the valleys history was Steve Blanks The Secret History of Silicon Valley.

It's well worth the hour http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo

Seconded. Also interesting is a small book "Geek Silicon Valley" by Ashlee Vance which lists various places of interest and their role in Silicon Valley history. It even includes places like notable restaurants.

http://www.amazon.com/Geek-Silicon-Valley-Sunnyvale-Francisc...

They should include Ampex, a company founded 1944 to reverse engineer German recording technology.

Ampex was also the home of an LSD-fueled research lab in the late 50s:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=ampex+lsd

I have always wondered when the cycle became self-fulfilling. From the timeline, it seems the turning point might have been late 50s and early 60s when you had the venture capital firms start to take hold with interest in small tech companies.

As far as I read it looks like 1971 is the turning point, with the creation of the first Intel microprocessor.

How is Silicon Valley difference from the startup scene in, say, Austin or Boston?

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