Electronics is a field of engineering and applied physics that grew out of the study and application of electricity. Electricity concerns the generation and transmission of power and uses metal conductors. Electronics manipulates the flow of electrons in a variety of ways and accomplishes this by using gases, materials such as silicon and germanium that are semiconductors, and other devices like solar cells, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), masers, lasers, and microwave tubes. Electronics applications include radio, radar, television, communications systems and satellites, navigation aids and systems, control systems, space exploration vehicles, microdevices like watches, many appliances, and computers.

The history of electronics is a story of the twentieth century and three key components: the vacuum tube, the transistor, and the integrated circuit. In 1883, Thomas Alva Edison discovered that electrons will flow from one metal conductor to another through a vacuum. This discovery of conduction became known as the Edison...