Editing Silicon Valley (section)

===Early military origins===
[[File:Moffett Field circa 1934.jpg|thumb|left|Established in 1931, [[Moffett Federal Airfield|Moffett Field]] in [[Sunnyvale, California|Sunnyvale]]/[[Mountain View, California|Mountain View]] has played a strategic role in Silicon Valley's evolution, researching and developing key technologies, first for the [[U.S. military]] and then for [[NASA]]. Today it hosts the [[NASA Ames Research Center|Ames Research Center]].]]
The San Francisco Bay Area had long been a major site of [[United States Navy]] research and technology. In 1909, [[Charles Herrold]] started the first [[radio station]] in the United States with regularly scheduled programming in [[San Jose, California|San Jose]]. Later that year, Stanford University graduate [[Cyril Frank Elwell|Cyril Elwell]] purchased the U.S. patents for [[Arc converter|Poulsen arc]] radio transmission technology and founded the Federal Telegraph Corporation (FTC) in [[Palo Alto, California|Palo Alto]]. Over the next decade, the FTC created the world's first global radio communication system, and signed a contract with the Navy in 1912.<ref name=Sturgeon>{{cite book |last=Sturgeon |first=Timothy J. |year=2000 |chapter=How Silicon Valley Came to Be |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CLxzUW4V_2cC&pg=PA15 |editor-last=Kenney |editor-first=Martin |title=Understanding Silicon Valley: The Anatomy of an Entrepreneurial Region |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CLxzUW4V_2cC |publisher=Stanford University |isbn=978-0-8047-3734-0 |access-date=March 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905220513/https://books.google.com/books?id=CLxzUW4V_2cC |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1933, [[Moffett Federal Airfield|Air Base Sunnyvale]], California, was commissioned by the [[United States Government]] for use as a Naval Air Station (NAS) to house the airship ''[[USS Macon (ZRS-5)|USS Macon]]'' in [[Hangar One (Mountain View, California)|Hangar One]]. The station was renamed NAS [[Moffett Field]], and between 1933 and 1947, U.S. Navy blimps were based there.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.moffettfieldmuseum.org/history.html |title=Moffett Field History |first=Dave |last=Black |work=moffettfieldmuseum.org |access-date=April 19, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050406011808/http://moffettfieldmuseum.org/history.html |archive-date=April 6, 2005}}</ref> A number of technology firms had set up shop in the area around Moffett Field to serve the Navy. When the Navy gave up its airship ambitions and moved most of its west coast operations to [[San Diego]], the [[National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics]] (NACA, forerunner of [[NASA]]) took over portions of Moffett Field for [[aeronautics]] research. Many of the original companies stayed, while new ones moved in. The immediate area was soon filled with [[aerospace]] firms, such as [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]], which was the area's largest employer from the 1950s into 1980s.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/01/why-silicon-valley-and-big-tech-dont-innovate-anymore/604969/ |title=Silicon Valley Abandons the Culture That Made It the Envy of the World |last=Madrigal |first=Alexis C. |date=January 15, 2020 |website=The Atlantic |url-status=live |access-date=January 15, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115160317/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/01/why-silicon-valley-and-big-tech-dont-innovate-anymore/604969/ |archive-date=January 15, 2020}}</ref>