If there's one single hive of minds responsible for some of humanity's enduring technological advancements, it has to be Bell Labs. It was born in 1925 (a hundred years ago!) from Bell Systems' manufacturing development laboratory in the Western Electric Engineering Department. That lab was responsible for developing and advancing technologies for the rapidly expanding communications industry that Bell, and later AT&T, dominated.

Western Electric's lab started sometime in the late 1800s, just as telephones were quickly spreading across the country. Complex switching devices, better audio, and reliable devices were needed to connect Americans. And this little lab near New York City's meat packing district was cranking out inventions like hamburgers at the World's Fair.

Somewhere along the way they began to expand beyond telephones, experimenting with both established and nascent technologies to come up with something new, like talking pictures. In 1925, Bell Telephone Laboratories was created as a think tank laboratory, with an almost unlimited budget and a directive to push the boundaries of communications technology.

And push they did. Over the next several decades, Bell Labs invented or further developed:

• The laser
• The transistor
• Radio astronomy
• The CCD (charge-coupled device) found in digital cameras
• Computer-related tech like Information Theory, the Unix operating system, and programming languages such as B, C, C++
• Stereo disc recordings and transmissions
• The Vocoder speech synthesizer
• The first digitally scrambled speech transmission system
• Calculators
• The solar cell
• The first transatlantic communications cable
• The first computer program to play electronic music
• Telstar satellite, which transmitted the first worldwide television broadcast

Over the decades, Bell Labs and its researchers have racked up the awards, too: 11 Nobel prizes, 5 Turings, 22 IEEE Medal of Honor awards, 5 Emmys, and one each of the Grammy and Academy Awards.

Bell Labs was operating at their peak during World War Two, and continued to dominate tech research until the 1980s. In 1984, the courts, ruling that AT&T was a monopoly, broke up the bohemoth corporation. Because the lab now operated under a much smaller company, funding for pure research dried up. Another major split doomed the lab, splitting it up as well. It's now part of the Alcatel-Lucent Corporation, focusing on developing voice and data technologies.

It can't be emphasized enough how influential Bell Labs was, and quite frankly,  still is. The quality and depth of research, enlightening theories, and uncompromising experimentation are still referenced and utilized today. Remember those scientists the next time you put on your headphones, make a phone call, use your computer, or stream a movie.

Recent Notable Projects

Audiobooks:

• "Shield of Battle" and "Shield of Power" by Jonathon Moeller, narrated by Brad Wills
• "Mamluk" by J.K. Swift, narrated by Brad Wills
• "Another Underworld", "Someone Save My Midlife Tonight", and "Generally Hospitible" by Robyn Peterman-Zahn, narrated by Jessica Almacy
• "The Tempest" by Kathryn Le Veque, narrated by Brad Wills

Other projects of note were:

• "Raices: The Making of Latino Legacies in Racing" Keeneland Library museum exhibit audio, narrated by Ana Léon-Belamy (Keeneland, Lexington, KY)
• "Renovation Resort" Season 2 audio post-production. Watch on HGTV. (Wrigley Media, Lexington, KY)
• "The Sanford Duncan Inn" documentary audio post-production for KET (Michael Breeding Media, Lexington, KY)
• "Cosmos the Stellar Stalker" audio play. Available here (Reggie Van Stockem)
• Interviews with equine industry veterans Mark Taylor and Jill Stowe for public radio's Freakonomics program
• UK HealthCare-UK Coaches radio campaign (Team Cornett, Lexington, KY)
• A&W Restaurants Fall and Winter TV/radio/social campaign (Team Cornett, Lexington, KY)
• Fasig-Tipton Sales TV soundtracks  (Studio 34, Lexington, KY)
• Legoland "Summer Block Party" and "Amazon Kids" radio campaigns (Team Cornett, Lexington, KY)
• Hall of Fame Inductee video soundtracks, National Museum of Racing (Keeneland, Lexington, KY)

Tags: telephone, Bell Labs, Laser, Sound, vocoder, Transister, Research, At&T