The book provides an overview of the whole spectrum of semiconductor physics, devices and applications, but also tracks progress over the years from a historical perspective. It covers the development of the subject from its inception in the early nineteenth century to the recent millennium and emphasizes both the interaction between pure scientific push and commercial pull, on the one hand, and between physics, materials and devices, on the other. It also sets the various device developments in the context of systems requirements and explains how such developments met wide ranging consumer demands. It is written so as to appeal to undergraduate students of physics, electrical engineering and materials science and to workers already well established in the field, as well as to a non-specialist scientific readership.