For insight into the computing side of Bell Labs, Doug McIlroy's retirement lecture is a great read: http://research.swtch.com/bell-labs http://research.swtch.c

For insight into the computing side of Bell Labs, Doug McIlroy's retirement lecture is a great read: http://research.swtch.com/bell-labs http://research.swtch.com/bell-labs. A paper covering the earlier period is A History of Computing Research at Bell Laboratories (1937-1975): http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/cstr/99.pdf http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/cstr/99.pdf