Transistor

A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electronic signals and electrical power. It is the fundamental building block of modern electronic devices, and is ubiquitous in modern electronic systems. The transistor revolutionized the field of electronics, and paved the way for smaller and cheaper radios, calculators, and computers, among other things.

In the Fallout universe, circumstances involving the invention of the transistor are unclear.

Background
One of the common explanations for the timeline divergence is that post-World War II humanity in the Fallout universe invested its technological efforts in further harnessing the atom and robotics rather than focusing on working to develop supercomputers and miniaturized electronics. For the most part, vacuum tubes appear to have taken over the role of transistors preventing the miniaturization of technology in Fallout leading to technology appearing old and outdated by modern standards.

Computers in the Fallout universe are far clunkier than the ones in our world and most still use monochromatic, text-based displays. The personal computer was never developed due to these limitations on compactness, and some computers still exist as large mainframes which can take up whole rooms. The users access them via terminals. Nonetheless, some mainframes are highly advanced in terms of processing power, such as those capable of running an artificial intelligence.

Microchips also do appear to exist and can be seen among common household items, super computers, and energy weapons alike throughout the series.

Alleged invention in 2067
A prevalent citation is that the transistor was invented in 2067 or a decade before the Great War in 2077. An additional corollary is that the transistor was not invented in Fallout in 1947 and thus diverges from our timeline.

However, no direct proof of either statement can be found as well as whether or not it was intended since the beginning of the series. The first known comment by a Fallout developer regarding the transistor was made in 2016.

Fallout and Fallout 2
Transistors are not mentioned in the Fallout Bible. Fallout Bible 8, however does briefly mention vacuum tubes as part of the aesthetic.



However, typical 80s/90s desktop computers are seen as map props in Fallout 1 and 2.

Fallout Tactics
The Reavers have various quotes about the transistor.

While the Junction City enforcers mention silicon.

Fallout: New Vegas
One of Robert House's quotes is:

Silicon is famously used in the creation of semiconductors, integrated circuits, and transistors and in this case, as shorthand for an electronic device.

Fallout 4
The Cabot House terminal entries for 09/05/2023 directly mention transistors:

Whether the transistors were newly invented in 2023 or have been around prior to that date is unknown.

The Listening Post Bravo terminal entries mention a "transistor radio":

One of Proctor Quinlan's possible responses mentions a "transistor radio."

Behind the scenes

 * The earliest known developer comment regarding the status of the transistor in Fallout comes from a 2016 presentation at Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy. Developer Joel Burgess mentions the following in response to a question about world-building:


 * The field-effect transistor was patented by Julius Edgar Lilienfeld in Canada in 1925, in the United States in 1926 and 1928, and by German inventor Oskar Heil in 1934. A functional point-contact transistor was developed by John Bardeen and Walter Brattain of Bell Labs in 1947 and by Herbert Mataré and Heinrich Welker of Compagnie des Freins et Signaux in 1948. In fact, two of the four patents related to 1947 transistor were rejected by the Patent Office because of the Lilienfeld patents