Anthony J. Pennings, PhD

WRITINGS ON DIGITAL STRATEGIES, ICT ECONOMICS, AND GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS

How IT Came to Rule the World, 1.6

Posted on | April 2, 2010 | No Comments

This is the 11th post in the mini-series How IT Came to Rule the World

1.6 Further Cold War tensions in the 1960s sparked additional innovation in the microelectronics industry as the MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) defense policy transformed California’s “Silicon Valley” into the center of the military’s miniaturization revolution. A combination of Congressional politics

Apollo Guidance Computer used the first integrated circuits

Apollo Guidance Computer

and industrial economics led to the shift of electronics research and production from the US East Coast to the West Coast. Minuteman missiles utilized transistors developed by Bell Labs and then commercialized by Western start-ups who created the small silicon-based computing “chips” for their guidance systems. Combined with NASA’s Gemini and Apollo projects, the first major markets were created for integrated circuits or ICs, a crucial innovation for computing. NASA’s Apollo Guidance Computer (APC) was the first computer to use the new innovation. ICs combined several transistors on a single silicon chip and required extensive oversight and support from the government to ensure the high levels of quality needed for manned space flights and guidance of intercontinental thermonuclear missiles.

Share

Anthony

Anthony J. Pennings, PhD has been on the NYU faculty since 2001 teaching digital media, information systems management, and global communications.

Category: how IT came to rule the world, space systems, the cold war
Tags: > > > > > > > > > >

Comments

Comments are closed.

  • Referencing this Material

    Copyrights apply to all materials on this blog but fair use conditions allow limited use of ideas and quotations. Please cite the permalinks of the articles/posts.
    Citing a post in APA style would look like:
    Pennings, A. (2015, April 17). Diffusion and the Five Characteristics of Innovation Adoption. Retrieved from http://apennings.com/characteristics-of-digital-media/diffusion-and-the-five-characteristics-of-innovation-adoption/
    MLA style citation would look like: "Diffusion and the Five Characteristics of Innovation Adoption." Anthony J. Pennings, PhD. Web. 18 June 2015. The date would be the day you accessed the information. View the Writing Criteria link at the top of this page to link to an online APA reference manual.

  • About Me

    Professor and Associate Chair at State University of New York (SUNY) Korea. Recently taught at Hannam University in Daejeon, South Korea. Moved to Austin, Texas in August 2012 to join the Digital Media Management program at St. Edwards University. Spent the previous decade on the faculty at New York University teaching and researching information systems, media economics, and strategic communications.

    You can reach me at:

    anthony.pennings@gmail.com
    anthony.pennings@sunykorea.ac.kr

    Follow apennings on Twitter

  • About me

  • Calendar

    February 2020
    M T W T F S S
    « Jan    
     12
    3456789
    10111213141516
    17181920212223
    242526272829  

  • Pages

  • February 2020
    M T W T F S S
    « Jan    
     12
    3456789
    10111213141516
    17181920212223
    242526272829  
  • Flag Counter

  • Disclaimer

    The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of my employers, past or present.