Was it not the case that the principles of the FET were
established in the early 1900's?

As to test eqpt, surely a red herring, for where did the
valves (tubes to the non-English-speaking Yanks) come
from to make the test eqpt to test the first valves?

In any case, ISTR using transistor test rigs that consisted
of meters, resistors and batteries only. (In the days when
we got hold of manufacturer's rejects and had to sort out
the still-usable ones)

"Bob Weiss" wrote in message
newsniFd.12984$4b.8634@trndny09...
G1LVN wrote:
The invention of the Thermionic Vacuum
Valve (tube) held up the development of transisters by around 20 years.
How exactly could transistors have been developed if tubes weren't
already around?
Manufacturing semiconductors involves induction heaters to melt the
silicon/germanium during the refining process. Large induction heaters
to this day still use big honking TUBES to generate RF power.
Not to mention all the tubes in the test equipment that was used to
develop transistors....