27) Holonyak, Stationed at Isogo Base
Photo A: Letter of introduction from Bardeen to Michio Hatoyama for Holonyak
Photo B: Kikuchi and Holonyak discussing silicon transistors
We can often observe some "peculiar" incidents distinctive
of the postwar days in the cource of Japanese semiconductor R&D, since
Japan started developing semiconductor right after the World War Ⅱ. The following
story was exactly one of the "peculiar" incidents. Nick Holonyak,
who successfully developed light emitting diode(LED) first in the world at
Research Center of General Electric Company in 1962, was stationed at Isogo
Base.
Makoto Kikuchi at Electrotechnical Laboratory received a surprise visit from
Holonyak and he gave the following evidence.
Holonyak was the first student of Bardeen, one of three inventors of transistor,
at the University of Illinois. He called on me with a letter of introduction
from Bardeen to my boss, Michio Hatoyama (Photo A), and said that he was stationed
as one of American troops in Japan to undergo military service after leaving
Bell Telephone Laboratories (BTL). Since then, he showed up at the laboratory
from time to time on Saturdays to discuss on transistors with me. Holonyak
introduced these meetings to an American research document with Photo B dated
November 12, 1956, which said, "Kikuchi and I are discussing silicon
transistors." You probably might think that he disclosed all information
he had, but that was not the case. Later on, he repeatedly confessed, "To
tell the truth I couldn’t be quite candid even with a very good friend of
mine like you. At that time a strict gag was placed about a mesa transistor
which the group of John Moll at BTL had developed."
(By courtesy of Kikuchi)