The Legacy of Gordon Teal

February 4, 2025
Gordon Teal

Gordon Teal, B.A. ’27, Ph.D., was one of the most influential American scientists of the twentieth century, and his legacy of innovation and research in materials science echo through the continued contributions of Baylor faculty researchers today. After graduating as valedictorian from high school, Teal attended Baylor where he served as president of the Scholarship Society and Latin Club, as senior class vice president, and was a member of Baylor Chamber of Commerce and Baylor’s track team.

In his early research, Teal identified a compound called germanium, a semiconducting element. He took that knowledge into his first role in Bell Labs’ chemical research department, where he continued to refine germanium and developed a technique for producing high-purity, single-crystalline germanium. This became the turning point in a project unfolding down the hall from him in 1948. Future Nobel Laureate William Shockley, was attempting to create a functioning junction transistor. With Teal’s single-crystalline germanium, the first junction transistor came to be. 

“There was probably no more important scientific development in the semiconductor field . . . than the development of high-quality, single crystals of germanium at Bell Telephone Laboratories,” Shockley later said.

Teal later returned to Dallas to become director of the research laboratory at Texas Instruments. There, he led another landmark accomplishment — the development of the first commercial silicon transistor — a linchpin in the future of modern computing.  

Teal’s legacy continues to live on at Baylor. His name is familiar to Baylor students who live in Teal Residential Hall, named for this titan in materials science. Further, the University is home to an array of faculty and labs that pursue groundbreaking research in materials science. From work with the aerospace industry to produce stronger and lighter materials for airplane parts and portable equipment to evaluate damage to planes impacted by bird strikes, to developing products that reduce the time and logistics of repairs to mission-critical components in the defense industry, metal alloys that withstand extreme conditions, and nanotechnology that will impact the future of healthcare, Baylor faculty are continuing to identify solutions to challenges facing vital industries. 

At Baylor, faculty provide high-impact learning experiences for undergraduates and graduate students who work alongside them in research settings. In addition, they bring knowledge gained from their research into classrooms to add new insights that prepare students for success in their future careers. It’s an approach to academics that places Baylor in the U.S. News & World Report top 25 for Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects and top 30 for Best Undergraduate Teaching.