Guide to the Gerald L. Pearson Papers
Daniel Hartwig
Stanford University. Libraries.
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
October 2010
Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Note
This encoded finding aid is compliant with Stanford EAD Best Practice Guidelines, Version 1.0.
Overview
Call Number: SC0350
Creator:
Pearson, Gerald L., 1905-1987.
Title: Gerald L. Pearson papers
Dates: 1934-1987
Physical Description:
6.5 Linear feet
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(s): The materials are in English.
Repository:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6064
Email: specialcollections@stanford.edu
Phone: (650) 725-1022
URL: http://library.stanford.edu/spc
Administrative Information
Provenance
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.
Access Terms
Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Harris, James
Pearson, Gerald L., 1905-1987.
Stanford University. Department of Electrical Engineering. Faculty.
Stanford University. Solid State Electronics Laboratory.
Electrical engineering
Physicists.
Solar cells.
Collection Contents
Correspondence
Arrangement
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
volume containing abstracts of papers Pearson presented to the American Physical Society, 1928-1978
Box 5, Folder
transcript of Gerald L. Pearson's testimony; Sper:ry-Rand Corporation vs. Bernard J. Rothlein, et aI, 2/18/64
Box 5, Folder
affidavits for Gerald L. Pearson in patent cases: -Jack st. Clair vs. Robert N. Noyce -Fairchild camera vs. Texas Instruments
Box 5, Folder
glass slides (approximately 100): charts and diagrams
Box 5, Folder
35 mm slides (approximately 450): charts and diagrams (student research ?)
Box 5, Folder
artifacts: three [silicon power rectifiers]
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 Content 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 Content 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
Accesion ARCH-1992-135
Additional Material
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, Folder
F.J. Biondi, ed., TRANSISTOR TECHNOLOGY, vol. 2
