Info & Syllabus

MIT IAP 2026

Course Info

  • Level: U
  • Units: 1.5-0-1.5 (3)
  • Prereqs: 6.2000 (6.002) or permission of instructor
  • Class Website: tubes.mit.edu/6S917/2026
  • Instructor: Joseph Steinmeyer (jodalyst@mit.edu) , Senior Lecturer, EECS
  • Schedule: January 7 – January 30
    • Lecture: Wednesdays & Fridays, 2:30p-4p, room 32-155
    • Lab: Lab open every weekday 9am-5pm in IAP as well. Work whenever you want, room 38-601
    • Office hours: See calendar on front page, but when happening I'll be up in lab (38-601)
  • Description: This class will study early electronics with a focus on vacuum tubes, early semiconductors, and other adjacent topics. While a largely technical class, we'll also look at some social aspects of these technologies. We will have lectures with accompanying readings, some technical and some more literary or in other disciplines. There will be lab exercises available to explore and build some circuits. Circuits will be kept below 30V for safety. Some familiarity with circuits and circuit theory(6.2000/6.002) is assumed, and if you're just starting out, I can try to help fill in some gaps, time-permitting. There are no homeworks/psets. There are no exams. We will likely have one final written assignment of a page or two due at the end that I'll help me for final credit assignment. But nothing major. The class is meant to be fun and low-pressure.

Two lectures every week and a lab or two where you build something. A tentative schedule of topics and things is below:

Tentative Outline:

  • Week 1 (Lectures 1,2): Detectors, Diodes, Non-Linearity:
    • Lab 1A: Electromechanical Amplifiers
    • Lab 1B: Germanium Crystal FM radio receiver
  • Week 2 (Lectures 3,4): Vacuum Tubes
    • Lab 2A: Vacuum-Fluorescent Displays
    • Lab 2B: Tube Audio Amplifiers
  • Week 3 (Lectures 5,6): More Tubes:
    • Lab 3A: Pentodes, Tube Oscillators
    • Lab 3B: Tube Operational Amplifiers
  • Week 4 (Lectures 7,8): Early Transistors, Early Computers
    • Lab 4A: Transistor Audio Amplifiers
    • Lab 4B: Early IC's (maybe)
    • Final Assignment/Report (will talk about in lecture)