The Spirit of Invention

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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Founded in 1925, Bell Labs would employ 25,000 people worldwide, most of them concentrated in and around Murray Hill, N.J. No bottom-line pressures meant science could take its time, but often was ahead of its time.


The picture phone was at the 1964 New York World's Fair . . . nearly 50 years ago.

And when did you get your first cell phone, in the 1990s maybe? Even later? Well, Bell Labs devised the concept in 1947, and had an actual system up and running in Chicago in 1977.

Through the years, Bell Labs have received more than 17,000 patents - that's like one patent a day for 50 years.