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Founders: #165 William Shockley (Creator of the Electronic Age)

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What I learned from reading Broken Genius: The Rise and Fall of William Shockley, Creator of the Electronic Age by Joel Shurkin. ---- [1:19] Why would a man as unquestionably brilliant as he knowingly and deliberately destroy himself? [5:04] Dear Jean: I am sorry that I feel I can no longer go on. Most of my life I have felt. that the world was not a pleasant place and that people were not a very admirable form of life. I find that I am particularly dissatisfied with myself and that most of my actions are the consequence of motives of which I am ashamed. Consequently, I must regard myself as less well suited than most to carry on with life and to develop the proper attitudes in our children. I hope you have better luck in the future. —Bill. He took out his revolver, put a bullet in one of the six chambers, put the gun to his head and pressed the trigger. Nothing happened. He put the gun away and wrote a second note. [13:36] “My elation with the group’s success was balanced by the frustration of not being one of the inventors. I experienced frustration that my personal efforts had not resulted in a significant inventive contribution of my own.” Apparently his involvement was too pas

[00:00:00] I believe that William Shockley was one of the most important scientists of the 20th century. He led the group at Bell Labs that created the seminal invention of the modern world, the transistor. Every home has thousands or even millions of transistors. World commerce totally depends on them, as do healthcare, culture, defense, transportation, and civilization in general. He was a key player in the development of the modern science of operations research. During the Second World War, he used statistics to show the Air Corps how to maximize its bombing efficiency and the Navy how…

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