Bell Labs aquired by a French company
Date: Friday, December 01, 2006 @ 23:04:04 UTC
Topic: General
(AP) -- It's the birthplace of the transistor, the
laser, the solar cell and the fax machine. Its researchers were the
first to hear the echoes of the Big Bang. And now this American legend
is part of a French company.
Bell Labs was founded in 1925 as the research arm of AT&T's
national telephone business. Sixty years later, it was spun off as part
of Lucent Technologies Inc., which on Thursday was acquired by
Paris-based Alcatel SA.
Murray Hill-based Bell Labs employs about 9,000 researchers and
engineers in seven countries, down from a peak of 24,000 in 1998 before
Lucent drastically downsized.
Its scientists have collectively have won six Nobel Prizes in
Physics, nine U.S. Medals of Science, seven U.S. Medals of Technology,
two Draper Prizes and a Grammy award, for many achievements in sound
technology.
The lab has been granted 32,031 U.S. patents, 15,000 of which are still active.
A look at some key advances:
..........
Read more: http://www.physorg.com/news84173731.html
Source: Lucent Technologies Inc.
|
|