发展历程

贝尔电话实验室或贝尔实验室，最初是贝尔系统内从事包括电话交换机，电话电缆，半导体等电信相关技术的研究开发机构。

1925年，当时AT&T总裁，华特·基佛德（Walter Gifford）。收购了西方电子公司的研究部门，成立了一个叫做“贝尔电话实验室公司”的独立实体。AT&T和西方电子各拥有该公司的50%。

贝尔实验室的工作可以大致分为三个类别：基础研究，系统工程和应用开发。在基础研究方面主要从事电信技术的基础理论研究，包括数学，物理学，材料科学，行为科学和 计算机编程理论。系统工程主要研究构成电信网络的高度复杂系统。开发部门是贝尔实验室最大的部门，负责设计构成贝尔系统电信网络的设备和软件。

1984年以后，按照美国政府分拆AT&T的协议，从贝尔实验室中分割成立了Bellcore。Bellcore 为分拆后的一系列小贝尔公司统一提供研究开发的服务。

1996年，贝尔实验室以及 AT&T 的设备制造部门脱离 AT&T 成为朗讯科技。 AT&T保留了少数研究人员成为其研究机构——AT&T实验室。

研究成果

1933年，卡尔·央斯基（Karl Jansky）通过研究长途通讯中的静电噪声发现银河中心在持续发射无线电波，此电波称为3K背景辐射。透过此研究而建立了射电天文学。

1947年，贝尔实验室发明晶体管。参与这项研究的约翰·巴丁（John Bardeen）、威廉·萧克利（William Shockley）、华特·豪舍·布拉顿（Walter Houser Brattain）于1956年获诺贝尔物理学奖。

香农（Claude Shannon）于1948年发表论文《通讯的数学原理》，奠定了现代通信理论的基础。他的成果是部分基于奈奎斯特和哈特利先前在贝尔实验室的成果。

贝尔实验室发明光电池。

贝尔实验室也是UNIX操作系统和C语言的发源地。C语言是由Brian Kernighan、Dennis Ritchie 和 Ken Thompson 在1970年代早期开发的。在1980年代，又由比加尼·斯楚士舒普发展为C++语言。

More than any other institution, Bell Labs has helped weave the technological fabric of modern society. Its scientists and engineers have made seminal scientific discoveries, have launched technological revolutions that have reshaped the way people live, work and play, and have built the most advanced and reliable communications networks in the world.

Today, as the innovation engine behind Lucent Technologies, Bell Labs designs products and services that are at the forefront of communications technology, and conducts fundamental research in fields important to communications. Guided by both experience and vision, Bell Labs is taking the lead in shaping tomorrow's broadband networks powered with service intelligence at every network layer.

The Bell Labs Difference

The new Bell Labs is spread across more than 10 countries - the largest R&D organization focused on the needs of large service providers, the leading source of new communications technologies and the most creative force in communications networking today.

The technology needs of leading service providers now drive our R&D efforts. For example, we have increased our investment in R&D that will enable simpler, more "service-friendly" networks with more intelligence in every layer. Bell Labs R&D also includes optical network technologies, packet data solutions, circuit-to-packet network migrations, spread-spectrum wireless technologies, and network operation and management software.

The breadth and depth of experience that the people of Bell Labs bring to the table are unrivaled in the industry. perhaps that is why - more often than not - Bell Labs provides the vision and sets the pace for the entire communications industry. Our scientists and engineers are constantly pushing the envelope of what's possible in communications.

Bell Labs is so productive it receives about two patents per working day. Yet what Bell Labs brings to Lucent and its customers is more than a knack for creating new technologies. Customers' needs for technology integration, for network planning, optimization, and management have never been greater. And Bell Labs, which pioneered systems engineering and many areas of operations research, answers this call with its deep understanding of how large, complex networks fit together.