75% of players answered correctly.

THE CORRECT ANSWER: The transistor

The invention of the transistor at the end of the 1940s by researchers at Bell Laboratories marks a decisive turning point in the history of digital technologies. Before this major innovation, the first computer calculators relied on bulky, fragile and extremely energy-intensive vacuum tubes.The transistor revolutionized electronics by offering a semiconductor solution capable of amplifying or interrupting an electrical signal very efficiently. Its reduced size and remarkable reliability have made it possible to design equipment that is much more compact and faster.By grouping millions, then billions, of these miniature components onto silicon chips, engineers were able to create modern integrated circuits and microprocessors.Without this fundamental transition to semiconductor, the rise of personal computers, cell phones, and our entire current technological infrastructure would simply not have been possible.