CAMPBELL & HEINLEIN and the father of the Transistor, JOHN R. PIERCE

Science-fiction correspondence of John R. PIERCE with Robert A. HEINLEIN, Arthur C. CLARKE, and John W. CAMPBELL, Jr.

V.p.[Colorado Springs, London, New York, Millburn, N.J.]: 1943-1957.

Price: $5,700.00


About the item

CAMPBELL & HEINLEIN and the father of the Transistor, JOHN R. PIERCE. Old folds.

Item #236763

Small and interesting archive of science fiction correspondence of physicist John R. Pierce (1910-2002), inventor of the word "transistor", director of research at AT&T's Bell Laboratories, and science fiction author of short stories (under the pseudonym J.J. Coupling), comprising:
HEINLEIN, Robert A.
1) Typed Letter, Signed, dated October 29, 1957, one-page, single spaced, asking for advice on technical matters concerning radio in Have Space Suit, Will Travel (published September 1958) and mentioning Pierce's earlier suggestions. With Pierce's retained carbons of his letters.
2) Typed Postcard, Signed, dated June 30, 1947, replying to an inquiry from Pierce concerning agent Lou Schor, who was trying to start a science fiction radio series.
CLARKE, Arthur C.
Typed Letter, Signed, dated 2 March, 1952, one-page, on his stationery as Chairman of the British Interplanetary Society, complimenting Pierce on his article about communications satellites in Astounding, and referring to Clarke's pioneering article in Wireless World for October 1945 "suggesting the use of satellites for TV relaying"
CAMPBELL, JOHN W., JR.
1) Typed Letter, Signed, 1 p., Dec. 17, 1943, discussing Pierce's article on heat rays, and a radio Campbell is building.
2) Typed Letter, Signed, 1 p., Feb. 2, 1944, discussing an article by Ehrenhaft in Astounding, with the quote, "I am, in brief, firmly convinced that thuroughly [sic] unscientific, illogical and fundamentally mistaken people can make basic discoveries of the first magnitude by mistake."
3) Typed Letter, Signed 3 p, Oct. 24, 1944, discussing an oscilloscope Campbell is building, and discussing a story idea from Murray Leinster.
4) Typed Letter, Signed, 2 p., Dec. 27 [1944?], about an oscillator circuit.
5) Autograph note forwarding a Feb. 2, 1949 letter inquiring about television tubes to Pierce, with a carbon of Pierce's reply.
6) Carbon of letter from Pierce to Campbell, April 2, 1949.
7) Typed Letter, Signed, 3 p, Feb. 21, 1950, about Pierce's article on perfect thinking mechanisms.
8) Typed Letter, Signed, 3 p., April 5, 1950, about the development of Dianetics and how he had used it. With a carbon of Pierce's reply, April 12, 1950.
9) Undated, unsigned, typed letter to Pierce about an article on electron multipliers.
10) Group of letters, November-December, 1950, starting with a carbon of a reply to Campbell about a letter from an inventor that Campbell had forwarded, and including a suggestion that Campbell have the inventor, Allan Rader, work up an article. A letter from Rader and correspondence to him is included.