William Shockley
William Shockley
William Bradford Shockley Jr.was an American physicist and inventor. Shockley was the manager of a research group that included John Bardeen and Walter Brattain. The three scientists invented the point-contact transistor in 1947 and were jointly awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth13 February 1910
CountryUnited States of America
regret thinking unnecessary
Regret is unnecessary. Think before you act.
ties fire amplification
If you take a bale of hay and tie it to the tail of a mule and then strike a match and set the bale of hay on fire, and if you then compare the energy expended shortly thereafter by the mule with the energy expended by yourself in the striking of the match, you will understand the concept of amplification.
race intellectual causes
The major cause for American Negroes intellectual and social deficits is hereditary and racially genetic in origin and thus not remedial to a major degree by improvement in environment.
motivation knowledge hands
Frequently, I have been asked if an experiment I have planned is pure or applied science; to me it is more important to know if the experiment will yield new and probably enduring knowledge about nature. If it is likely to yield such knowledge, it is, in my opinion, good fundamental research; and this is more important than whether the motivation is purely aesthetic satisfaction on the part of the experimenter on the one hand or the improvement of the stability of a high-power transistor on the other.
devices objective producing projects strongly useful
The objective of producing useful devices has strongly influenced the choice of the research projects with which I have been associated.
basic created errors failed following history reveals truth
A basic truth that the history of the creation of the transistor reveals is that the foundations of transistor electronics were created by making errors and following hunches that failed to give what was expected.
fraction industry point practical states united worthwhile
An important fraction of United States industry adheres to the idea that research of a fundamental character is worthwhile from a practical point of view.
allowed rule spherical
I was not allowed to take spherical trigonometry because I'd sprained my ankle. Because I'd sprained my ankle, I had an incomplete in gym, phys ed. And the rule was that if you had an incomplete in anything, you were not allowed to take an overload.
bell influenced obtaining strongly
My decision to come to Bell Telephone Laboratories immediately after obtaining my Ph.D. in 1936 was strongly influenced by the fact that my supervisor would be C. J. Davisson.