December 23

1. 1947

   The transistor is born at Bell Labs

   John Bardeen and Walter Brattain showed their colleagues at Bell Labs in New Jersey the first working transistor, a small sliver of germanium that could amplify and switch a current. It replaced bulky, fragile vacuum tubes and became the building block of every computer and phone that followed.

   Source: Wikipedia

2. 1954

   The first successful organ transplant

   Surgeons at a Boston hospital, led by Joseph Murray, moved a healthy kidney from one identical twin into his dying brother, the first transplant a patient's body did not reject. It proved a failing organ could be replaced with a living one and began the era of transplant surgery.

   Source: Wikipedia

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