COLLOQUIUM: David Sarnoff, RCA Laboratories, and the Dawn of the Information Age

Decades before Silicon Valley became synonymous with innovation, New Jersey was the center of the American consumer electronics industry. Leading the way was the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), whose Garden State laboratories were the birthplace of color television, digital computer memories, liquid crystal displays, and many other vital technologies. The success of these projects reaffirmed the beliefs of RCA’s longtime chairman, David Sarnoff, who argued that a sustained investment in research was essential to maintaining a competitive edge in high-tech industries. This talk will discuss how Sarnoff rose through the ranks at RCA to become one of America’s leading industrialists. It will also consider the factors that prompted him to establish a central research facility in Princeton. Only through an examination of Sarnoff’s strong relationship with his technical staff can we understand how RCA scientists and engineers pursued their work and, in the process, laid the foundations of the Information Age.