From Faraday's 1833 discovery that increasing heat can increase conductivity in silver sulphide, the reverse of the normal effect of heat on conductors, to Bell Labs' 1947 invention of the transistor, were a series of all-important discoveries which made the transistor possible. Interestingly, six of the ten discoveries were made in the 19th century.
Michael Faraday’s discovery that some conductors became better conductors as their temperature rose.
Henri Becquerel’s discovery of the photo-voltaic effect
Willoughby Smith’s discovery of the photoconductivity effect of selenium
Ferdinand Braun’s discovery of the rectifying properties of contacts between metals and semiconductors.
William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) discovering that applying a magnetic field can change resistance.
Edwin Herbert Hall’s discovery of the Hall effect
Max Planck’s postulation of the quantum hypothesis
Albert Einstein’s application of the quantum hypothesis to the photoelectric effect.
Robert Wichard Pohl’s discoveries about the photo-electric and luminescence properties of solids
Erwin Schrodinger’s equation
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