Jackel was a refugee from Bell Labs, the storied research and development division of the Bell Telephone Company. Ma Bell, as the monopoly was affectionately called, operated its lab as a quasi-academic institution, allowing its scientists to work with a large degree of independence. The scientists were encouraged to work on problems facing the telecommunications industry, but their research was judged by its scientific merit, not by the dollar figure their innovations generated. “Basically, the U.S. population funded Bell Labs through their phone bills,” Jackel said.
