December 16, 2007 was the 60^th anniversary of the invention of the point transfer transistor. Forbes has an article on it.

This is a picture of Shockley's "improved" gen 2 junction transistor—essentially a cylindrical plug of germanium, impregnated, with chemical impurities to enable it to carry a charge.

Still think you would would have invested in Bell Labs when they announced the breakthrough? I'm pretty sure I would have looked at a nice shiny triode and determined that a blob of mud could never have outperformed it.