Silicon Valley: How Stanford, science, and war made tech history | Margaret O'Mara

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The history of Silicon Valley: The rise of a technological unicorn.

- In the first part of the 20th century, Silicon Valley wasn't known as the "Silicon Valley." It was the "Santa Clara Valley." It was an agricultural region, best known for being the "Prune Capital of America.

- In terms of getting its start, Sherman Fairchild created Fairchild Semiconductor in the area because he had inherited a lot of money from IBM stock. In this way, IBM is sort of the granddaddy of all computer companies because of this.

- Remaking another Silicon Valley in the world would be tough — but not impossible. The region has become what it is today because it succeeded in a certain kind of time.

Margaret O’Mara is the author of THE CODE: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America (https://amzn.to/2M6c7Lx). She is a professor of history at the University of Washington, where she writes and teaches about the history of U.S. politics, the growth of the high-tech economy, and the connections between the two.

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