Santa Clara Valley Historical Association

The Depression held the United States in a paralyzing grip, crimping industrial operations and pinching funding for costly academic research. It was a time to learn, apply brainpower, and make do in the laboratory at minimal cost.

Federal Telegraph's move East had closed the Palo Alto-Stanford area's major production plant, but it left behind some engineers and skilled workers who chose to stay in the West. At the university, Fred Terman was firmly entrenched as the leading U.S. academic man in radio engineering. Even before becoming Electrical Engineering department head in 1937, Terman encouraged his students to start businesses. He took them to San Francisco to visit places like Heintz & Kaufman's radio plant and Philo Farnsworth's television development workshop.

Become a member of the Santa Clara Valley Historical Association and learn more about early Silicon Valley inventions.