Lab for sale [Reflections]

Lucent Technologies Inc. recently announced that it is considering the sale of its Bell Labs facility in Holmdel, NJ, USA. The author reminisces about his connections to the building as well as of the labs contributions in general. Among Bell Labs´ accomplishments had been research recognized with two Nobel Prizes in physics. Even the nearby grounds were hallowed. It was there in 1933 that Karl Jansky first discovered radio emissions from space and began the science of radio astronomy. On the hill across the way, the radiation from the Big Bang that created the universe was first detected, and from that spot a message from President Dwight D. Eisenhower was beamed into space to inaugurate satellite communications. Coincidentally, it was from the Atlantic coastal waters close by that Guglielmo Marconi had transmitted one of the first radio messages in the United States, in 1899. The land at the Holmdel lab may be hallowed to technologists, but to real estate developers, it may elicit awe of another kind. The days of glory and accomplishment will eventually be long forgotten - it is the passing of an era. AMSID not found.