Bell Labs is the single most important reason we live in the so-called “digital age.” Consider the following inventions:

- The transistor. Invented at Bell Labs in 1947.
- The laser. Invented at Bell Labs in 1958.
- The UNIX operating system. Invented at Bell Labs in 1969.
- Cell phone technology. Invented at Bell Labs in 1978.

So far, seven Nobel Prizes have been awarded for work completed at Bell Labs.  For decades Bell Labs churned out a relentless stream of shear brilliance. Then one day it all came to a screeching halt.  Learn from Princeton Professor Sigurd Wagner how the Holmdel, NJ site of Bell Labs came to be abandoned like some forgotten colossus.  Listen here: Professor Sigurd Wagner on Bell Labs.