4. AT&T Bell Labs: The Research Powerhouse
AT&T Bell Labs was a prolific research institution that made numerous groundbreaking contributions to technology. Its inventions include the transistor, the laser, radio astronomy, and programming languages like C and C++. The lab's work was so impactful that it earned ten Nobel Prizes.
Bell Labs' decline came as a result of the breakup of its parent company, AT&T, following an antitrust lawsuit. The split left Bell Labs with diminished resources, and the shift away from centralized research labs in favor of in-house R&D further reduced its relevance. Today, Bell Labs exists as a much smaller entity under Nokia.