Co-inventor of the microwatt bipolar junction transistor, Sparks helped create a semiconductor device that led to personal computers, cell phones, and DVD players. He was born in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, and grew up in Texas. He became an undergraduate at Rice University and did his PhD work in physical chemistry at the University of Illinois, Urbana, graduating in 1943. In 1948, he went to work at AT&T Bell Labs, where John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley were developing the first transistor.
Sparks stayed at AT&T Bell Labs and worked there to develop the microwatt bipolar junction transistor, which helped make transistors practical enough for common use. Junction transistors began replacing vacuum tubes in electronic devices such as portable radios. Soon, transistors became essential in electronic computers, and their production grew monumentally after the emergence of the microchip in the 1960s.
After nearly 30 years at AT&T Bell Labs, he accepted a post as the Director of Sandia National Laboratories, one of the United States' most eminent research labs, where he served from 1972 to 1981. Sandia is a key supplier of research and development projects for the American nuclear defense regime under the U.S. Department of Energy.
