Guide to the Gerald L. Pearson Papers SC0350
University Archives staff
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
October 2010; October 2023
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford 94305-6064
Fax Number: (650) 723-8690
specialcollections@stanford.edu
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Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Gerald L. Pearson papers
Identifier/Call Number: SC0350
Physical Description:
10 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1934-1987
Summary: Correspondence,
1961-1982, research notebooks on optical properties of solids and other subjects, technical
reports prepared during his tenure at Bell Telephone Laboratories, reprints, photographs and
slides, legal papers relating to patents, transcript of an oral history interview,
memorabilia, and other miscellaneous items.
Language of Material:
Undetermined .
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
Gift of Mildred Pearson, 1988 and 1992, and James Harris, 1989.
Information about Access
This collection is open for research.
Ownership & Copyright
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must
be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford
University Libraries, Stanford, California 94304-6064. Consent is given on behalf of Special
Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright
owner, heir(s) or assigns. See:
http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/pubserv/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of
digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Cite As
Gerald L. Pearson Papers (SC0350). Department of Special Collections and University
Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Biographical/Historical Sketch
Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University from 1960 to 1987 and Director
of Stanford Solid State Electronics Laboratory. Research Physicist at Bell Telephone
Laboratories from 1929 to 1960 in the field of solid-state electronics. Co-inventor of the
solar cell, Pearson held a total of 34 U.S. patents relating to thermistors, transistors,
silicon power diodes, and solar cells.
Description of the Collection
Correspondence, 1961-1982, research notebooks on optical properties of solids and other
subjects, technical reports prepared during his tenure at Bell Telephone Laboratories,
reprints, photographs and slides, legal papers relating to patents, transcript of an oral
history interview, memorabilia, and other miscellaneous items.
The correspondence, dating from 1960 through 1981, consists of letters sent and received
while Pearson was a professor of Electrial Engineering at Stanford university. Also included
are technical reports for Bell Telephone Labs, reprints, articles and lectures concerning
the solar cell, photographs and slides documenting the solar cell, a notebook containing
abstracts of papers Pearson presented to the American Physical Society, affidavits and
testimony relating to patent trials and four transistor artifacts.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Physicists.
Solar cells.
Electrical engineering
Papers Accession ARCH-1997-076
Correspondence
Arrangement note
incoming & outgoing arranged alphabetically
Box 4, folder 3
Solid State Electronics in the USSR Report on a lecture tour in the Soviet
Union, 9/17-10/16 1971
Box 4, folder 4
Solar Cells: technical reports, newspaper clippings and
photographs
Box 4, folder 6
Pearson technical reports (Bell Telephone Labs) and articles
Box 4, folder 7
Pearson technical reports (Bell Telephone Labs)
Box 4, folder 8
Pearson reprints, articles and papers presented
Box 4, folder 9
reprints, technical reports (authors other than Pearson)
Box 4, folder 10
technical reports (Bell Telephone Labs and authors other than
Pearson)
Box 4, folder 11
technical reports (Bell Telephone Labs and authors other than
Pearson)
Box 4, folder 12
Pearson reprints and technical reports (Bell Telephone Labs, and authors
other than Pearson)
Box 4, folder 13
reprints and articles (authors other than Pearson)
Box 4, folder 14
articles (authors other than Pearson)
Box 4, folder 15
Pearson article and accompanying photographs
Box 4, folder 17
Pearson article and accompanying photographs and negatives
Box 4, folder 18
Course Description and teaching materials for EE-257 , Experimental Solid
State Electronics
Box 4, folder 19
Lists of Pearson's: Technical Publications, Publications and U. S. Patents by
Pearson assigned to Bell Telephone Laboratories
Box 4, folder 20-23
Awards, memberships in national/ international societies
Box 4, folder 24
Ephemera: Naval certified citizen Employee Identification, Membership card
for the Franklin Institute and rate of pay card
Box 4, folder 25
Photographs/negatives: Explorer VI, solar-powered satelite, circa August 7,
1959
Box 4, folder 26
Photographs/negatives: portraits of Gerald Pearson in laboratory
Box 4, folder 27
Photographs/negatives: laborato:ry equipment, graphs and charts
Box 4, folder 28
Photographs: solar batteries, crystals, silicon power rectifiers, graphs,
charts and diagrams (press releases, articles and tec1mical reports accompany same
photographs)
Box 5, folder 1
Transcript of Gerald L. Pearson's testimony; Sperry-Rand Corporation vs.
Bernard J. Rothlein, et aI, 2/18/64
Language of Material: English.
Box 5, folder 2-3
Physical Society Papers
1928-1978
Language of Material: English.
General
Volume containing abstracts of papers Pearson presented to the American Physical
Society
Box 5, folder 4
Affidavits for Gerald L. Pearson in patent cases: -Jack st. Clair vs. Robert
N. Noyce -Fairchild camera vs. Texas Instruments
Language of Material: English.
Box 6, folder 1
Affidavit of Gerald L. Pearson, in the German Patent Office, re: Application
of Fairchild camera and Instrument Corporation No. 1,197,548; Filed: April 26, 1960;
Semiconductor Device With One or More PN Junctions and Methcxi to Prcxiuce
Them
Box 6, folder 2
The Transistor and Related Experiments, by J. Bardeen, W.H. Brattain, W.
Shockley, G.L. Pearson; Bell Telephone System, Technical Publication, Monograph
B-1574
Box 6, folder 3
Photographs, 5 black and white photographs
Box 6, folder 4
EE 257 Experiments I to VII (inactive)
Scope and Contents note
I Conducti vi ty and Hall Effect of Gennanium; II Drift Mobility, Diffusion Length
and Lifetime of Holes in Germanium; III Recording Spectometer and its Use in Measuring
the Absorption Edge in Silicon Crystals; IV Dielectric Constant Experiment; V Specific
Heat Experiment; VI Ferrmagnetic Resonance Experiment; VII Nuclear Magnetic
Resonance
Box 6, folder 5
Alfried Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach Energy Research Prize
1981
Scope and Contents note
List of Recipients, Addresses, Pearson's address
Box 6, folder 6
Laboratory Notebook: Optical Properties of Solids
circa 1954-1957
Box 6, folder 7
Oral History/Biographical Sketch
Box 6, folder 8
Study of the History of Solid State Physics Correspondence/Memos
circa 1979
Box 6
Artifacts: three [silicon power rectifiers]
Language of Material: English.
Box 7
35 mm slides (approximately 450): charts and diagrams (student research
?)
Language of Material: English.
Box 8
Glass slides (approximately 100): charts and diagrams
Language of Material: English.
Box 9
A History of Engineering & Science in the Bell System: Physical Science
(1925-1980). S. Millman (ed.)
1983
Box 9
A History of Engineering & Science in the Bell System: National Service
in War and Peace (1925-1975). M. D. Fagen (ed.)
1978
Box 9
A History of Engineering & Science in the Bell System: The Early Years
(1875-1925) M. D. Fagen (ed.)
1975
Box 9
"Science in Action" TV Library. Benjamin Draper (ed.)
1956
Addenda, 1992-135 ARCH-1992-135
Language of Material: English.
Box 1, folder 1
Sperry Rand Corporation v . Bernard J. Rothlein, et. al - legal
papers
1964
Box 1, folder 2
Photographs of Pearson, W. Shockley, and solar cells
Box 1, folder 3
Solar cells: reprints, technical reports, clipping
1954-55
Box 1, folder 4
Transistor: Bell Labs press release and reports re: first
demonstration
1948
Box 1, folder 5
Bell Laboratories RECORD (3 issues) and BUSINESS WEEK
1960 Mar 26
Box 1
F.J. Biondi, ed., TRANSISTOR TECHNOLOGY, vol. 2
Language of Material: English.
Box 1
Examples of solar cells
Language of Material: English.
