He made notable contributions in electronic engineering and solid-state physics during the early days of transistor development at Bell Laboratories.

He also earned a PhD from Johns Hopkins University, submitting a dissertation Practice and theory of the modulation of Geiger counters in 1939.

[6] On January 30, 1948 Shive discovered that gold-plated tungsten point contacts on a p-type layer of germanium grown on an n-type substrate gave "a terrific triode effect".

[7]: 153  On February 13, he also discovered that a transistor consisting of bronze contacts on the surface of an n-type substrate without a p-layer gave "gains up to 40× in power!

[10] In 1948 Shive invented the phototransistor that used a beam of light, instead of a wire, as the emitter of a point contact transistor, generating holes that flow to the collector.

[15] Today, the Exploratorium Exhibit Services manufactures a large-scale version of the machine for use in science museums and schools.

[16] Shive held several patents including Selenium rectifier and method of making it,[17] Directly heated thermocouple,[18] Photoresistive translating device,[19] Selenium rectifier including tellurium and method of making it,[20] Apparatus for and method of treating selenium rectifiers,[21] Semiconductor photoelectric device,[22] Conditioning of semiconductor translators,[23] Semiconductor amplifier,[24] and Alternating gate current.

[27] John N. Shive was a fellow of the American Physical Society and a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.