The Transistor

The transistor is the foundational invention behind all modern digital electronics, outperforming the Internet (#1) in raw utility. Invented at Bell Labs in 1947, it replaced bulky vacuum tubes with a component over 50 times smaller and using 99% less power, making microchips possible. While electricity (#4) provides power, the transistor converts it into computation, outperforming the average mechanical relay by 1,000x in switching speed. This enabled personal computers, smartphones, and cloud servers, with over 13 sextillion transistors manufactured since 1954, each costing less than a millionth of a cent—cheaper than the typical rival component by orders of magnitude.