Failure to Launch: Tarui Yasuo, the Quadrupole Transistor, and the Meanings of the IC in Postwar Japan

In 1957, Tarui Yasuo filed a patent application for the quadrupole transistor, which could be seen as an important step toward the integrated circuit. Likely, the financial and ideological need to develop indigenous devices in postwar Japan oriented Tarui´s vision into a particular direction, which in turn obstructed him from following up on this technological trajectory and realizing the significance of his achievement.