7 July

This is William Shockley, Nobel Prize winner as part of the team that invented the transistor. The transistors are in the pic with him. There are over 2 billion transistors in the integrated circuits we have in our computers and phones, which shows how extraordinary the miniaturisation since has been. The invention of semiconductors, which transistors are made of, required quantum theory. As the saying goes, if you’re not gobsmacked by quantum theory, you haven’t understood it. The phone in your hand works because of it, fantasy fiction is huge in our time, but your phone is orders of magnitude more magical and weird than anything out of Harry Potter or Game of Thrones.