Broken Genius: The Rise and Fall of William Shockley, Creator of the Electronic Age

Joel N. Shurkin

Jun 2006 · Palgrave Macmillan

About this ebook

When William Shockley invented the transistor, the world was changed forever and he was awarded the Nobel Prize. But today Shockley is often remembered only for his incendiary campaigning about race, intelligence, and genetics. His dubious research led him to donate to the Nobel Prize sperm bank and preach his inflammatory ideas widely, making shocking pronouncements on the uselessness of remedial education and the sterilization of individuals with IQs below 100. Ultimately his crusade destroyed his reputation and saw him vilified on national television, yet he died proclaiming his work on race as his greatest accomplishment. Now, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Joel N. Shurkin offers the first biography of this contradictory and controversial man. With unique access to the private Shockley archives, Shurkin gives an unflinching account of how such promise ended in such ignominy.

Ratings and reviews

"Broken Genius," is a gripping biography of the 20th. century's most influential men. I met him, very briefly. Shurkin attributes only one book to Bill Shockley, "Electrons and holes in semiconductors," of 1956. Walter Gong, my mentor in the late 50's and early 60's, co-authored a science education book with Shockley. "Mechanics," copyrighted in 1966, is still available and details how Shockley thought to make scientific breakthroughs. (See the Wikipedia entry, which does not list Walter Gong as a co-author.) "Broken Genius" tells about what was happening in Shockley's life. In "Mechanics" Walter tells how Shockley thought about science. The Quonset hut, "at 391 South San Antonio, Palo Alto, CA." (Shurkin; page 168,) I remember as being a bit north, up by Charleston Rd. where Fairchild/Intel's first began manufacturing. The first week 72, "200 the second week." Sold to IBM for $150 a piece! Walter took me to meet a man who "was trying to make transistors smaller, and having trouble." At the time, I wanted to go camping in the high country above the Hetch Hetchy, and was not too interested in a better job. I was making almost $1.00/hour cleaning carpets... Did Walter Gong, then an engineer studying for a PhD in education at Stanford, invite me to visit his coloaborator at the transistor lab on the day after the "traitorous eight," Noyce, Moore, et al, left? cactusmitch

About the author

Joel N. Shurkin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the author of many books, including Engines of the Mind and Terman's Kids. He lives in Washington, DC.