Semiconductor history

The use of natural semiconductors

I've started collecting remnants from the era of crystal radio (1900-1930) partly to use to explain what I'm doing in performances but mostly to learn some of the lost history of this technology. There is plenty of information out there, but a lot of the practical details are missing.

Tins for detector crystals for radios circa 1920 - although branded with lots of made up names, most of the crystals were in fact galena