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Birth
William Shockley was born Febuary 13th, 1910 in England, UK. -
Move to America
Shockley and his family moved to Palo Alto, California when he was only three years old. -
Homeschool
Shockley was homeschooled from age 5-8 (1915-1918) -
Shockley Skips Middle School
Lewis Terman evaluated Skockley's IQ and although he discovered William was not a genius, he was smart enough to skip middle school. -
High School
Shockley attended Palo Alto Military Academy and Hollywood High School -
First College
Shockley attended UCLA his freshman year of college, then transferred to CalTech -
College at CalTech
William completed his BS in physics at CalTech in 1932 -
MIT Fellowship and Ph.D
After graduating from CalTech Shockley was offered a graduate fellowship which he accepted. He then earned his Ph.D at MIT in 1936. -
Working at Bell Labs
Shockley began his 20+ year career at Bell Labs after graduating from MIT. -
Director of Research
He served as the director of research for the U.S. Navy's Antisubmarine Warfare Operations Research Group -
Solid State Group
Shockley worked with Stanley Morgan, John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, Gerald Pearson, Robert Gibney, and Hilbert Moore to find an alternative to glass vacuum tubes, publishing findings in 1946. -
Inventing the Transitor
Shockley and team invented the point-contact transistor in 1947. This work earned them the Nobel Prize in Physics. -
Published Research
He published ‘Electrons and Holes in Semiconductors’, a 558 page treatise collection of his research and work. -
Mountain View and Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory
Shockley moved back to the west coast to set up his own laboratory. He was known for being difficult to work with and eventually the company was sold off. -
Controvercial Proposals
In Shockley's later years he became obsessed with IQ intelligence. He believed that people with low IQ should stop reproducing. Additionally, he became particularly racist against African-Americans. -
Death
Shockley died of prostate cancer in 1989
