Bell Laboratories AKA Bell Labs

[related: SIGSALY, Walter Augustyniak, C++, Bell Helicopter]

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During its century-long run as an unparalleled techo-communications juggernaut, Bell Systems AKA Ma Bell established Bell Laboratories (Bell Labs), a non-profit R&D-oriented think tank. Originally formed in 1898 as an engineering of Western Electric (a Bell subsidiary), Bell Laboratories was officially renamed and relaunched in 1925 as a tele-communications think tank. As of 1974, there were over 20 separate lab locations throughout the United States. Through Bell Labs, Ma Bell was able to generate a steady stream of patents in part using federally-awarded funds - a crucial effort in its ongoing "patent wars" with IBM. Despite (or perhaps due to) Ma Bell's commercial prowess, employees of Bell Labs were allowed unparalleled resources and creative freedom, leading to a number of world-changing (and, at times, borderline metaphysical) discoveries. An abbreviated timeline of select developments:

          Bell Labs' extensive Long Island campus, circa 1972.