Form is temporary, function is permanent. The most important inventions are the ones that relate to the human condition, and they crop up over and over again. Below, Houston shares five key insights ...

We’ve seen so many explorations of older semiconductors at the hands of [Ken Shirriff], that we know enough to expect a good read when he releases a new one. His latest doesn’t disappoint, as he ...

While we might have started out using our fingers and toes to count, humanity has been busy designing machines to help with calculations for hundreds of years. From early counting devices to modern ...

Jerry Merryman, a self-taught electrical engineer who helped design the first pocket calculator, died Feb. 27 in Dallas. He was 86. His wife, Phyllis (Lee) Merryman, said the cause was heart and ...

The pocket calculator might seem like the most banal of obsolete pants-transported technologies, but it was actually a pretty miraculous little doohickey back in the day. Along with radios and ...