This series has been good, but it seems to me on a physics level, that Simi's took a completely different path from vacume tubes and the like. Who invented the idea of Simiconductor

I don't think you can say any one person was solely responsible for the 'invention' of the semiconductor. I would say that it was more of a widespread work in progress for many years before actual useful devices could be fabricated. The transistor itself was invented in 1947 at Bell Labs. Three men are credited with its invention (Shockley, Bardeen, Brattain). While I wasn't there myself, I would say, though, that its actual invention likely involved a team of a great many individuals. So saying that any one person invented the idea of a semiconductor or a transistor is probably incorrect. It was more of a gradual scientific movement than an instantaneous 'bingo', in my opinion.