Transistors are semiconductor devices that control the flow of electrical current and are the building blocks of modern electronics. They were invented in 1947 at Bell Labs by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley as a replacement for vacuum tubes. There are two main types of transistors, NPN and PNP, which use a process called transistor action to amplify small electrical signals and power electronic devices. Transistors come in various forms and are used for amplification, switching, power control, and signal processing in applications like computers, phones, appliances, and vehicles.