Yes, this is a classic story. Crystal diodes were known prior to WWII, and produced in bulk during WWII for radar systems. That resulted in commercial crystal growing technology. Bell Labs and Western Electric did much of that, so the technology for making crystals with controlled properties was coming along. That's the first step in the process of making transistors and ICs.<p>The first big technology that really required theory and heavy math was AC power. That's what Tesla was noted for. DC you can do with ordinary arithmetic, but AC rotary machine design requires calculus. That was a big shock to engineers of the era. Edison never made that transition.<p>Up until the early 20th century, science and engineering didn't talk much.
I had a crystal radio in the 60's. It was nothing more than an antenna, a coil, headphones, and of course the crystal. I had fooled around with making electromagnets and morse keys, and understood them. But the crystal completely baffled me.
There's a pretty good PBS doc about Shockley and Noyce (mostly Noyce) called <i>Silicon Valley</i>.<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B00BD7MBK6/ref=pd_cbs_318_2" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B00BD7MBK6/ref=pd_cbs...</a>
Reading Tesla’s Colorado Springs Lab Notes, he spent a good deal of time trying to develop an efficient RF rectifier/detector. So while he could generate huge amounts of RF, he could not detect it well.
I wish Robert Buderi's book on radar was available in e-print because it's really good as an overview of the relationship of the war, O/R, technology and specifically the transistor.