Bell System Technical Journal
Encyclopedia
The Bell System Technical Journal was the in-house scientific journal
of Bell Labs
that was published from 1922 to 1983.
was published in the Bell System Technical Journal, as were many landmark papers from the developers of Unix
that appeared in a themed-issue in 1978.
The journal is also notorious for a November, 1954 article, entitled "In-Band Single-Frequency Signaling" by Weaver and Newell that revealed the internal operation of the long distance switching system in use at that time. This article enabled phone phreaks to develop the blue box
apparatus that manipulated the switching system to allow them to make free long-distance calls.
2009 Nobel Prize physicists Willard Boyle
and George E. Smith
described their new charge-coupled device
in the journal in a 1970 paper.
Scientific journal
In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...
of Bell Labs
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
that was published from 1922 to 1983.
Notable papers
Claude Shannon's paper "A mathematical theory of communication" which founded the field of information theoryInformation theory
Information theory is a branch of applied mathematics and electrical engineering involving the quantification of information. Information theory was developed by Claude E. Shannon to find fundamental limits on signal processing operations such as compressing data and on reliably storing and...
was published in the Bell System Technical Journal, as were many landmark papers from the developers of Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
that appeared in a themed-issue in 1978.
The journal is also notorious for a November, 1954 article, entitled "In-Band Single-Frequency Signaling" by Weaver and Newell that revealed the internal operation of the long distance switching system in use at that time. This article enabled phone phreaks to develop the blue box
Blue box
An early phreaking tool, the blue box is an electronic device that simulates a telephone operator's dialing console. It functioned by replicating the tones used to switch long-distance calls and using them to route the user's own call, bypassing the normal switching mechanism...
apparatus that manipulated the switching system to allow them to make free long-distance calls.
2009 Nobel Prize physicists Willard Boyle
Willard Boyle
Willard Sterling Boyle, was a Canadian physicist and co-inventor of the charge-coupled device. On October 6, 2009, it was announced that he would share the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for "the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit—the CCD sensor".-Life:Born in Amherst, Nova Scotia, he...
and George E. Smith
George E. Smith
George Elwood Smith is an American scientist, applied physicist, and co-inventor of the charge-coupled device. He was awarded a one-quarter share in the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for "the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit—the CCD sensor".Smith was born in White Plains, New York...
described their new charge-coupled device
Charge-coupled device
A charge-coupled device is a device for the movement of electrical charge, usually from within the device to an area where the charge can be manipulated, for example conversion into a digital value. This is achieved by "shifting" the signals between stages within the device one at a time...
in the journal in a 1970 paper.