Inventor of first practical transistor

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Morgan Sparks, a former director of Sandia National Laboratories, inventor of the first practical transistor and a longtime civic leader in Albuquerque, died on Saturday May 3 at his daughter's home in Fullerton, Calif. He was 91 years old.

Sparks served as Sandia Labs director from 1972 until his retirement in 1981.

Prior to Sandia, Sparks had a 30-year career with Bell Laboratories in New Jersey and is best remembered as the person who fashioned the first practical transistor, the semiconductor device that has revolutionized almost every aspect of modern life.

Billions of these microscopic switches now crowd the surfaces of the most advanced microchips, allowing them to make myriad calculations in an eye-blink. Without transistors, one cannot begin to imagine personal computers, cell phones, DVD players and the many other electronic devices we rely on daily.

Current Labs Director Tom Hunter says, “Morgan was president when I was a young staff member at Sandia. He set the framework for Sandia to become a multiprogram lab. He was widely recognized for his ability to engage the Labs in many new areas that proved to be important for our future. He was also a great supporter of the country and the University of New Mexico. He made a big impact on all of us. I spent some time with him at the Nevada Test Site in the early '70s. He was a credit to the lab and, true to our mission, provided exceptional service to the nation.”

U.S. Senator Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) said “Morgan Sparks set the standards for the professional, efficient management of Sandia National Labs. He recognized the future need to brand science into technology transfer, and he laid the groundwork to link defense based research to applications that impact all our lives every day.”