Big trouble in little circuits

The electronic engineer soldered the computer microchip into place on the prototype. The advances of technology were remarkable. This chip could easily pass through the eye of a needle. Using the original vacuum tubes, grandfather would have needed a collection of electronic circuits the size of a small house to accomplish what this tiny chip could do quickly, reliably, and invisibly. Electronic surveillance, GPS satellites, and wireless communication were science fiction in the McCarthy era. Today no one thinks twice about the computer boards in almost every device. Nothing is anonymous anymore. Big brother was getting smaller every day.

(Photo credit: “Soldering of a 0805 component.” Selected as the Picture of the Day, Wikimedia Commons on August 8, 2012)