Transistors were invented in 1949 by Walter Brattain, John Bardeen and William Shockley at Bell Laboritories and have become the fundamental component of modern electronics.

In 1953 Dr Louis Davies, a scientist at the CSIRO Division of Radio Physics, attended a course held at the Pennsylvania College. Dr Davies then returned to Australia and with Dr Brian Cooper ran a course of ten lectures. This was the first course on transistor electronics held in Australia. This is the certificate of completeion for the course that Dr Davies attended in Pennsylvania.

Brian Cooper went on to build the first transistor radio in Australia which is now in the Powerhouse Museum's collection.

Damian McDonald
June 2007

Produced by the Pennsylvania State College in 1953.

This certificate was awarded to LW Davies, who went on to give the first lectures in Australia on the transistor.

Certificate, to L W Davies for completing the transistor short course, paper, printed by The Pennsylvania State College Extension Services, Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States of America, 1953

The certificate to LW Davies - Transistor short course from the Pennsylvania State College Extension Services is printed on thick paper stock and is of the quarto paper size, the size commonly used in the USA still as opposed to the A4 size. The words 'The Pennsylvania State College' arch over the college's logo, and the words 'Extension Services' are printed either side of the logo. The certificate states that Louis Walter Davies has successfully completed a course of instruction in Transistor Short Course consisting of two weeks of laboratory and lectures awarded at the State College, Pennsylvania, June 19, 1953.

Made: 1953

Pennsylvania Stage College logo and text attesting to the completion of a short course in transistors to Louis Walter Davies.

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1953