Historical story

An exhaustive history of the Philips Natlab, the Netherlands' most illustrious lab and birthplace of the compact disc, ASML and NXP

It is the birthplace of the compact disc, chip machine maker ASML and chip manufacturer NXP. The Physics Laboratory, or Natlab for short, has been the research department of Philips for more than a hundred years. In their book Natlab, Paul van Gerven and René Raaijmakers delve into the rich history of the Netherlands' most illustrious lab.

What started as a small light bulb factory in Eindhoven, grew into a world-class electronics manufacturer. Philips owes this in large part to the Physics Laboratory (Natlab) founded in 1914. For a long time, a club of the country's most brilliant minds sat here, which provided the Philips 'shop' with new inventions for years.

Employees of the Natlab (about 2000 in its heyday in the 1970s) enjoyed great freedom. Engineers were able to pursue their interests without too much interference from Philips' 'commercial bosses'. Let's say Google's policy – ​​in which employees also get time to develop their own 'projects' – but then decades before the internet even existed.

It doesn't really sound like a very efficient strategy, but it worked. Free researchers think outside the box and come up with creative solutions. Especially in the second half of the previous year, Natlab was a global powerhouse in the field of electronics, a research mecca. The basis of the compact disc is there, but also of ASML and NXP, now two major players in the chip machine and chip market respectively. The Natlab had close ties with universities and colleges of higher education, the best students actually had to end up in Eindhoven.

Ultimately, Philips earned tons of money from the Natlab inventions. They not only earned money from their own consumer products, but also from patents for which other producers had to pay. Today the Natlab lives on in Philips Research, but its heyday seems to be over. Technology journalists Paul van Gerven and René Raaijmakers write in Natlab:Nursery of ASML, NXP and the CD an exhaustive history of the most illustrious laboratory in the Netherlands.

The compact disc

A big cash cow and Philips' most successful product was the CD, the compact disc, which a good part of the book is about. Perhaps the most interesting part of the book. It shows how difficult it really is to make something like a CD player.

It all started in the 1970s when a video record was considered. Engineers had to find ways to store information scratch-resistant in tiny traces, and then read it out without touching the traces. There were numerous challenges involved:what the data looked like (alternating short and long dimples) and which light source was strong enough to read it (the laser). When there was a functioning player in the late 1970s, it was mainly a matter of convincing the world that the CD was the future.

Philips also experienced with the V2000 developed video tape system that the best quality system does not win by itself. It was trumped by the inferior VHS system, especially by a well-oiled marketing machine. In the case of the compact disc, Philips entered into a partnership with Sony:a 'format war' was settled so quickly.

At the end of the CD chapter, the authors attempt to correct the historiography surrounding Natlab engineer Kees Immink and the CD. He gained a lot of fame for the development of the CD and received an Emmy Award, Faraday Medal and an Edison Medal, among others. It couldn't stop. According to the authors, Immink likes to present itself as the most important or even the inventor of the compact disc. In reality, it was a product of a years-long process and a huge team of inventors. Immink would make good use of the fact that his name is on many essential patents. The rest would have been mostly shameless self-promotion.

Missed opportunities

Philips' Natlab also emphatically intervened in the world of transistors and later integrated chips. This has always been with varying degrees of success. Wrong choices, reacting too slowly and a very fluctuating chip market made this a heady ride. Nevertheless, international superpowers such as chip machine maker ASML and chip producer NXP have emerged from Philips' Natlab. This history is worked out in detail in the book.

The book concludes with that other market that many people know Philips from:the picture tube. In the screen world, the group experienced high peaks and deep troughs. In the 1950s and 1960s, when more and more households got a television, Philips was a global player and there was close collaboration with the Natlab. To improve the 'start-up' time and the contrast of the CRT. But there was a headwind from Japanese companies that surprised with innovations such as increasingly flat screen tubes. The development of LCD (now the leading technology for screens) was almost completely missed by the Natlab and Philips. They continued to focus on other (own) technologies.

For the entered technology fan

Is this extensive history a nice introduction to the Natlab for people who know little about it? Not really. The book is recommended for those who really want to know the bottom line. It goes into great detail in detail. There is an unprecedented amount of people in the book (the Natlab had quite a few employees). This made the book very long. With half the number of pages, it would probably have also been possible to write the history of the Natlab, and then it would have been a lot easier to read.

The level is also quite high. The book is doable for a 'well-read' interested person, but a real layman will probably have trouble with the technical terms that are not really well explained. Van Gerven and Raaijmakers try to give a very accurate representation of the most turbulent years of the Natlab, and they succeed in doing so. In that regard, it is perhaps the most fun for former Natlab employees, or for the introduced technology fan.

More information

Title:NATLAB:Nursery of ASML, NXP and the CD Authors:Paul van Gerven and René Raaijmakers Publisher:Techwatch Number of pages:408 Price:€39.50 More information and sales addresses