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 instead of working to develop supercomputers and miniaturized electronics (in the process creating the first semiconductor, the transistor, in 1947), post-World War II humanity in the Fallout universe invested its technological efforts in further harnessing the atom and robotics.

For the most part, vacuum tubes take over the role of transistors preventing the miniaturization of technology in Fallout leading to technology appearing old and outdated by modern standards.

For example, computers 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 all computers 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.

At the same time, microchips do appear to exist and can seen among common household items, super computers, and energy weapons alike throughout the series.

No direct proof of the genesis of the idea that the first practical transistor was not invented in Fallout in 1947 can be found. An additional corollary is that the transistor was invented in 2067 or ten years before the Great War, but again no evidence has surfaced to confirm this.

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.



It should be noted, however, that 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":

Behind the scenes
In a 2016 presentation at Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy, developer Joel Burgess mentions the following in response to a question about world-building: