Re: What was the most \'revolutionary\' scientific theory of all time?
Sure, solid-state electronics is amazingly important; that's what I was referring to by indirect influence. The reason I say it's indirect is that while the transistor itself is clearly very important, this isn't quantum mechanics itself but an application of it. Evolution as an idea in itself has been substantially more culturally important, I think.
I'm also not 100% sure that the transistor couldn't have been stumbled upon even without a quantum mechanical theory of solids. To make a serious case for this, I'd have to do some looking in to the history of semiconductors and see what was known before ~1930 or so. This is very likely not a sensible or very good assertion, but I like being difficult sometimes. That said, I can certainly imagine that one might be able to come up with rough, phenomenological theories that explain pn junctions and the like, at least well enough to make discovering the transistor possible; I don't think electrical engineers get the full on QM treatment when they learn about these things.
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