John N. Shive | |
|---|---|
 John N. Shive demonstrates his wave machine in this 1959 educational film Similarities in Wave Behavior aimed at undergraduates[1] | |
| Born | John Northrop Shive February 22, 1913 |
| Died | June 1, 1984 (aged 71) Lincroft, New Jersey, US |
| Alma mater | Rutgers University (BS), Johns Hopkins University (PhD) |
| Known for | Transistor development Phototransistor Shive wave machine |
| Spouse | Helen Shive |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | Bell Labs |
John Northrop Shive (February 22, 1913 – June 1, 1984) was an American physicist and inventor. He made notable contributions in electronic engineering and solid-state physics during the early days of transistor development at Bell Laboratories. In particular, he produced experimental evidence that holes could diffuse through bulk germanium, and not just along the surface as previously thought. This paved the way from Bardeen and Brattain's point-contact transistor to Shockley's more-robust junction transistor. Shive is best known for inventing the phototransistor in 1948 (a device that combines the sensitivity to light of a photodiode and the current gain of a transistor), and for the Shive wave machine in 1959 (an educational apparatus used to illustrate wave motion).