2) Gold Medal vs. Bronze Medal
The commemoration medal that IEEE presented to Shockley et. al
on the 25th anniversary panel discussion event
(Replica in Shimura's possession)
The photograph is a replica of the commemoration medal that
IEEE presented to the three inventors prior to the opening of the 25th anniversary
panel discussion on transistor invention. The medals were actually gold ones,
but one handed over to me, as one of the press staff, was a bronze medal imprinted
by the same mold. The attached paper humorously said, "To you who didn't
invent a transistor."
By the way, there is an inscription, "1948-1973 25 Years of Progress"
on the back of this medal. It is commonly believed that the transistor amplification
phenomenon was confirmed at Bell Telephone Laboratories (BTL) on December
16, 1947. It should have been "1947-1972" instead, if you used this
date. But they adopted June 30, 1948 as the formal invention date, which was
the date of the official announcement from BTL and it caused this one-year
slip. It is said that the official announcement was delayed more than 6 months
partly because of their patent strategy, and also because they tried to draw
the best conclusion through their very careful study on the future perspective
of the applications.