HOLMDEL – Author Jon Gertner said he “could not imagine” that the former Bell Laboratories could have a future consistent with the research facility it once was.
But he said that he was pleasantly surprised by revival of the iconic building.
On Nov. 14, former employees of Bell Labs reunited at the now modern metropolis to reflect on the building’s history and discuss former breakthroughs in mid-century technology.
That evening, Gertner, author of ‘The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation,’ gave a seminar on the findings provided in his novel written about the historic establishment.
Gertner, who said was was never an employee of Bell Labs, said he was fascinated by the local research establishment and pursued years of data to collect and publish in a novel.
Bell Labs, which was once the world’s largest research and development center, Gertner said, made strides within the development of long-range transmission signals for telephones, transistors and the production of cellular phone service in the mid to later portion of the 1900’s.
Gertner described phone service in the early 20th century as “inconsistent, noisy, expensive and slow.” He said engineers at Bell Labs worked tirelessly to address and rectify these issues, matters of which were foreign at the time of early innovation, he said.
“At Bell Labs, they were doing things that were rather novel,” Gertner said. “One thing was the scale and how many people they were providing at the laboratory. They started by looking at solving technological problems for the phone system.”
Gertner said he struggles with the notion that Bell Labs has, at present, not been matched. He said “very long time horizons to pursue technology” could be the underlying factor in his assertion.
At present, he said, advancements in technology need to be developed within a shorter time frame and become implemented immediately to serve consumers.
“Others have tried to emulate this lab and they never have,” Gertner said.
When transistors and long-distance telephone services were in the midst of development, often failing during the invention process, Gertner said, engineers at Bell Labs were instructed to pause the production of telephones and instead prepare to make communication systems for soldiers fighting in World War II, 1939-1945.
“They did almost no telephone research,” he said.
After the war, from his research, Gertner said teams of engineers and scientists did “extrordinary work” in short amounts of time, which influenced the research and production process, he said.
“Things that at first didn’t seem possible somehow were,” Gertner said.
Gertner said the foundation of Bell Labs revolved around the notion that you did not want to have “likeminded people in the room together.”
Gertner said advancements in science and technology were better suited when “people of different disciplines” introduced and implemented different ideas.
This concept played a roll in the construction of the layout of the six story, 2-million-square-foot structure, he said. The building, which is made of transparent photovoltaic glass, was designed to accommodate interaction with individuals, Gertner said, without the boundaries of closed office spaces.
After Bell Labs closed in the late 20th century, Gertner said a revival of the same caliber Bell Laboratories oversaw was impossible.
At present, the redevelopment of Bell Works is being carried out by Somerset Development and is designed to be “a new kind of destination that combines the density and dynamism of a walkable, downtown Main Street in a desirable, suburban locale,” Bell Works officials said.
Current and future retail tenants’ storefronts at Bell Works are/will be included on the quarter-mile long atrium. Within the last year, Bell Works introduced a rooftop lounge, several retail, experience and restaurant tenants, the grand opening of Bell Market, and has signed a lease agreement to open an operate a hotel on the roof of the building.
“In 2011, this place was abandoned. Weeds were poking through the parking lot and I just could not imagine that this place had any future,” Gertner said. “I am humbled at how wrong I was to think this place couldn’t have a second life.”
