Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. was founded in 1925 as the research and development (R&D) branch of the Bell System. Until the early 1990s, Bell Labs was owned and supported by AT&T, the Bell System's parent company, and by the Western Electric Company (WECo), the Bell System's manufacturing branch, which was owned by AT&T. WECo paid the salaries of Bell Labs personnel who developed new products that WECo manufactured; AT&T paid the salaries of Bell Labs personnel who performed research and systems engineering (R&SE). The Bell System's customers provided R&SE revenue via their monthly telephone bills, and Bell Labs systems engineers ensured that the United States had the world's best telephone system.

The research performed at Bell Labs was the world's best, especially between the 1940s and the 1970s. Over the years, many Bell Labs employees received prestigious awards in...