THE CALIFORNIA DEFENSE READY ELECTRONICS AND MICRODEVICES SUPERHUB

The Entangled Histories of Aerospace, Electronics, and Computing in Silicon Valley and Southern California

Event Details

June 19, 2026

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Passcode: 862998

Host: Steve Crago
POC: Amy Kasmir

Silicon Valley acquired its name in the early 1970s, but it has a far longer history and it did not develop in isolation. The electronics industry in California started in earnest around 1900, and its roots extend to the Gold Rush. This talk will discuss this deeper history and then the role of the aerospace industry in catalyzing the eventual emergence of “Silicon Valley.” It will also examine the aerospace role in creating the thriving electronics and computing enterprise in Southern California, which often lives in the shadow of its more famous Bay Area counterpart.

Speaker Bio

Peter Westwick is Professor of the Practice in History and Thematic Option at the University of Southern California. He received his BA in physics and PhD in history from UC Berkeley. He is the author of Into the Black: JPL and the American Space Program, 1976-2004, which won book prizes from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the American Astronautical Society, and The National Labs: Science in an American System, 1947-1974, which won the book prize of the Forum for the History of Science in America. He is also editor of Blue Sky Metropolis: The Aerospace Century in Southern California and co-author, with Peter Neushul, of The World in the Curl: An Unconventional History of Surfing. His latest book is Stealth: The Secret Contest to Invent Invisible Aircraft. He is currently writing a history of high-tech industry in California since the Gold Rush.