Modern computing on the head of a pin

They don't make them like this anymore. We cast an eye back over the ever-shrinking transistor, the invention that became the cornerstone of computing and the modern world.

This is one of the first transistors, a replica of which has been donated to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, by LSI Corporation to mark the device's 60th birthday. This hulking forefather was shrunk down to become the brains of integrated circuits in everything from computers and mobile phones to guided missiles and pacemakers.

Photo credit: LSI Corporation