[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 102 (Tuesday, July 10, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1220-E1221]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




COMMENDING BELL LABS OF MURRAY HILL, NEW JERSEY ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY 
                               OF TELSTAR

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. LEONARD LANCE

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 10, 2012

  Mr. LANCE. Mr. Speaker, today marks the anniversary of a defining 
moment in the history of modern communications. It was 50 years ago 
that Bell Labs, based in Murray Hill, New Jersey, in partnership with 
NASA, launched the world's first active communications satellite. The 
Telstar I was launched on July 10, 1962, ushering in the era of real-
time global telephony, data communications and TV broadcasting.
  With Telstar and its successors the world was made a smaller place. 
Billions of people around the world had instant access to news, sports 
and entertainment.
  Telstar I, a sphere roughly a yard in diameter and weighing about 170 
pounds, incorporated dozens of innovations from Bell Labs. The 
satellite could carry 600 voice calls and one black-and-white TV 
channel.
  Telstar achieved many firsts. It was the first active, direct-relay 
communications satellite, it successfully transmitting through space 
the first television pictures, telephone calls, high-speed data 
communications and fax images, and the first live transatlantic 
television feed. Telstar truly changed the world in which we live.
  Telstar came out of Bell Labs 50 years ago and paved the way for 
innovations in communication that are still taking place at a campus 
located in my district in Murray Hill, New Jersey--where Alcatel-Lucent 
headquarters their global R&D arm.
  Over 3,000 employees are hard at work there, creating technological 
innovations for future generations.
  Researchers at Bell Labs have won seven Nobel Prizes in Physics--
shared by 13 people. The most recent prize was awarded in 2009 to 
George E. Smith and Willard S. Boyle for their invention and 
development of the charge-coupled device (CCD)--a technology used for 
digital imaging in cameras and high-powered telescopes. Other 
innovations to come out of Bell Labs throughout the years include the 
transistor, the cell phone, solar cells and the laser.
  As the innovation engine behind Alcatel-Lucent, Bell Labs helps to 
weave the technological fabric of modern society. The Labs' scientists 
and engineers make seminal scientific discoveries, launch technological 
revolutions that reshape the way people live, work and play, and 
continue to build the most advanced and reliable communication networks 
in the world.
  I congratulate Bell Labs on its historic accomplishments.

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