Episode 147 - Molecular Electronic Computer

Advent of Computing

In 1961 Texas Instruments unveiled the Molecular Electronic Computer, aka: Mol-E-Com. It was a machine that fit in the palm of your hand, but had all the power of a much larger computer. This was in an age of hefty machines, which made the achievement all the more marvelous. How was this even possible? It was all thanks to the wonders of molecular electronics, and a boat load of funding from the US Air Force.

Selected Sources:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160304071831/http://corphist.computerhistory.org/corphist/documents/doc-496d289787271.pdf - Invention of the Integrated Circuit, Kilby

https://archive.org/details/DTIC_AD0411614/page/n15/mode/2up - Investigation of Silicon Functional Blocks, TI

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/AD0273850.pdf - Silicon Semiconductor Networks, TI