My family lived just down the road from Bell Labs in Murray Hills, NJ, in 1978. One of my fondest memories of that period is visiting Bell Labs for an open day.

My family lived just down the road from Bell Labs in Murray Hills, NJ, in 1978. One of my fondest memories of that period is visiting Bell Labs for an open day. We saw displays of their research work and got to talk to some of the researchers. Some was fundamental semiconductor physics (which my dad loved, as he had a PhD in the area). Much was about the practicalities of running a telephone network. And a few displays were a glimpse of the future. Using the prototype video phone felt like being in an episode of the Jetsons!