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Nuvistor Valves

Home Search Indexes Equivalents Articles Adverts & Boxes Timeline Collections Donate Contact The Nuvistor The development of the Nuvistor in the late-1950s was probably the last major innovation in receiving valve technology, coming as it did towards the end of the era of thermionic device domination. Transistors at that time weren't the full answer to all problems in electronics, and so valves still had a lot to offer.

In the US Space Program The Ranger series of unmanned spacecraft were launched between 1961 and 1965, and were the first US attempt to obtain close-up images of the Moon's surface, in preparation for the manned landings at the end of the decade, as pledged by President Kennedy in 1961. TV designers in RCA moved their chassis to transistors as quickly as it was technically possible and commercially attractive, to take advantage of even greater miniaturisation, and lower costs and power. For the fans of conspiracy theories among you, I'll just say how convenient for the US space program and military industries that a miniature, low power, static-proof, nuclear-hardened and rugged technology, with a plausible cover story, should happen to be developed at a time when it was needed the most.

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