Broken Genius: The Rise and Fall of William Shockley, Creator of the Electronic Age (Macmillan Science)

the First Biography Of William Shockley—inventor Of The Transistor, Father Of Silicon Semi-conductors, And Center Of One Of The Most Vicious Controversies In Modern Science

library Journal

it Is Ironic That The Nobel Prize Winner Widely Credited With Inventing The Transistor Should Be More Frequently Remembered For His Pseudo-scientific, Racist Views On Iq. William Shockley's Innovations At Shockley Semiconductor Laboratories Spawned The Tech-mecca Known Today As Silicon Valley. How Could This Man Drift From Solid-state Physics To The Genetics Of Human Intelligence, Treating It With Equal Intensity But Far Less Rigor Or, To Pose The Question Pulitzer Prize-winning Journalist Shurkin (engines Of The Mind) Asks In His Preface, Why Would A Man As Unquestionably Brilliant As He Knowingly And Deliberately Destroy Himself? In Search Of Answers, Shurkin Combs Through A Trove Of Personal Documents And Family Memorabilia, Among Them The 1943 Suicide Note Shockley Saved After A Failed Attempt At Taking His Life. Knowing This Particular Aspect Of Shockley's Past Might Provide Some Context And Explanation For The Legendary Arrogance And Paranoia He Displayed In His Labs, As Well As For His Eventually Obsessive Advocacy Of Eugenics And Some Of Its Most Radical Protocols (e.g., Involuntary Sterilization). Shurkin Portrays Shockley As A Consummately Driven Man In All Of His Endeavors, Who Was, Ultimately, Driven To Self-destruction. Highly Recommended. Gregg Sapp, Science Lib., Univ. At Albany Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.