Matare Oral History

Mataré Oral History

Sadly Herbert Franz Mataré died on 2 September 2011 at the age of 99 just a few months after these interviews were shot by the BBC.

Dr Herbert Mataré tells what happened when he discovered that he and Bell Labs had both invented the transistor. Link to BBC Web Pages and two interviews (note these videos are hosted on the BBC website):

In this rare interview, ex-radar engineer in WWII Dr Herbert Mataré explains what happened when he heard that a team at the prestigious Bell Labs in the US, comprising Dr William Shockley, Dr Walter Brattain and Dr John Bardeen, had stumbled across the same invention as he had been working on in Paris after WWII: the transistor - a device that would change the world. With thanks to Bell Labs for archive

A rare interview with Dr Herbert Mataré, explaining how his work with radar in WWII led him to discover the transistor - a means of amplifying electrical signals using a tiny block of semi-conducting silicon.

From Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity told by Professor Jim Al-Khalili. Directed by Alex Freeman.Thanks and courtesy of BBC.