Lee Edson, in Mosaic (Surn-mer 1987), National Science Foundation, Wash- ington, D.C. 20550.
Silicon is the material that defines our times. Because it is the primary element of computer microchips, silicon is as important to our age as steel was to the 19th century and bronze was to the Greeks of 3,000 B.C.
Although silicon's importance will continue indefinitely, says Edson, a free-lance science writer, many of its functions may be taken over gallium arsenide, a synthetic semiconductor. While...