“Bell Labs of the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s was to Black scientists what Harlem of the 1920s was to Black writers, artists, and musicians. It was a true renaissance.”

Sessler and West found a way to utilize Teflon as a dielectric material. They completed the designs for the foil electret microphone in 1962. An electret microphone uses an electrostatic capacitor, which eliminates the need for a separate power source by using a permanently charged material. It was smaller with better quality than the traditional condenser microphones that predated it, not to mention easier to produce. Today it continues to impact a majority of technology with audio components.

Image Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center.

Milton Gerdine began his career at Bell Labs in 1965 after receiving his PhD in Electrical Engineering from University of Colorado. He would spend 35 years working between the Holmdel and Murray Hill locations, studying microwave radio and millimeter waveguide transmission systems. Gerdine became one of the Lab’s first black directors.

Image Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center.

Walter Lincoln Hawkins (1911–1992) became the first African-American to join the technical staff of Bell Labs in 1942. Hawkins developed a way to make lightweight plastic durable enough to sheath telephone wires, replacing the heavy lead that had covered lines for decades. Hawkins stayed with the labs for 34 years, becoming the assistant director of the chemical research lab in 1974. He spent his career finding ways to make plastics last longer and longer, as well as finding ways to recycle them. He is seen here with Mary Worthington, a senior technical aid in the chemistry department.

Image Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center.

As one of the first Jewish employees in leadership at Bell Labs, Millman recognized the need for combatting discrimination in the workplace. Millman coordinated the launch of the CRFP.

Image Courtesy of the Family of Dr. Sidney Millman.

Marian Croak began her career at Bell Labs in 1982 in the Human Factors research division. She became interested in converting voice data into digital signals, which would allow people to speak via the internet instead of telephone lines. This Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology allows the videoconferencing that has become commonplace. Today she is a Vice President of Engineering at Google. She holds over 200 patents.

Image Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center.

The Anechoic Chamber was built in 1947 at the Murray Hill facility and, at the time of construction, was the world’s quietest room. The word “anechoic” means “without echo.” Three foot thick exterior walls are made of cement and brick, and the room itself is insulated with fiberglass wedges. Two wire grids suspended above the fiberglass floor are shock absorbing as well. The room is about 28 x 32 feet, and 30 feet tall. All of this creates an environment that absorbs 99.995% of sound. Beyond the foil electret microphone tests, this room has been used for many different acoustic experiments.

Image Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center.

Milton Gerdine began his career at Bell Labs in 1965 after receiving his PhD in Electrical Engineering from University of Colorado. He would spend 35 years working between the Holmdel and Murray Hill locations, studying microwave radio and millimeter waveguide transmission systems. Gerdine became one of the Lab’s first black directors.

Image Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center.

James E. West (b. 1931) grew up in rural Virginia, a grandchild of enslaved ancestors. He became interested in technology working with his cousin installing electrical wiring at the age of 12. After serving in the Korean War, West enrolled in Temple University to study physics. He started working at Bell Labs in 1957 as a Ph.D student. In 1999, West was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and holds 47 US patents, and 200 foreign patents.

Gerhard M. Sessler (b. 1931) a German native, came to the US to work for Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1959. He also holds a number of patents, and received a gold medal from the German Acoustical Society.

Image Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center.

The transducer is the piece that converts pressure into an electrical signal. A vital part of Sessler and West’s microphone as it eliminated the need for a battery.