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On an elementary conceptual level, this film reflects the multifaceted scientific hyperthinking that was typical of a Bell Labs approach. Host Dr. J.N. Shive's presence as a lecturer is excellent - it's understandable by a layperson even when he branches into equations, because he uses copious amounts of real-world examples to bolster the material.

Shive's role at Bell Labs was more than just a great lecturer: he worked on early transistor technology, inventing the phototransistor in 1950, and the machine he uses in the film is his invention, now called the Shive Wave Machine in college classrooms.

Dr. J.N. Shive of Bell Labs demonstrates and discusses the following aspects of wave behavior:

Reflection of waves from free and clamped ends
Superposition
Standing waves and resonance
Energy loss by impedance mismatching
Reduction of energy loss by quarter-wave and tapered-section transformers
Original audience: college students

Produced at Bell Labs

Footage courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center, Warren, NJ