Niobium capacitor
The development of solid electrolyte tantalum capacitors began in the early 1950s as a miniaturized, more reliable low-voltage support capacitor to complement the newly invented transistor. The solution found by R. L. Taylor and H. E. Haring of the Bell Labs was based on experience with ceramics. They ground down tantalum to a powder, pressed this powder into a cylindrical form and then sintered the powder particles into a pellet (“slug”) at high temperatures, between 1500 and 2000 °C, under vacuum conditions. These first sintered tantalum capacitors used a non-solid electrolyte not consistent with the concept of solid state electronics. 1952 a targeted search in the Bell Labs for a solid electrolyte by D. A. McLean and F. S. Power led to the invention of manganese dioxide as a solid electrolyte for a sintered tantalum capacitor.
2N107
The 2N107 was conceived in 1955 by Carl David Todd, who had just joined GE as an engineer. Todd's interest in a hobby/experimental transistor probably originated when he participated in one of the CK722 transistor design contests, while he was an engineering student at Auburn University and finished sixth. The success of the CK722 gave impetus for Carl Todd to convince GE marketing to follow the path of Raytheon, the inventor of the CK722. General Electric had a lot of 2N43 thru 2N45 type transistors that did not meet specifications. Like Norman Krim at Raytheon, Carl Todd wanted to increase GE's transistor market by expanding into the hobbyist market.