Pushkin Hello, Hello everyone. Before we get to this episode, I want to let you know about two new exciting shows from Pushkin Industries that you might be interested in. The first is McCartney A Life in Lyrics with Sir Paul McCartney. You'll hear conversations between McCartney and poet Paul muldoon as they dissect the inspirations that shaped McCartney's songwriting. It's a combination masterclass, memoir and improvised journey. If you're a McCartney or a Beatles fan, you will love this show. Pushkin's other new series is from Michael lewis Against the Rules. The new special series is called Judging Sam The Trial of Sam Bankman Freed SBF, the former CEO of Crypto Exchange FTX, is being tried for financial crimes, and again Against the Rules, is following the trial that decides his fate. So go ahead listen to McCartney A Life in Lyrics and Against the Rules. Wherever you get your podcasts, you can also unlock exclusive binge listens and ad free listening for these shows on their Apple podcast show pages or at Pushkin, dot Fm, slash plus. It's a beautiful morning in northern California. I flew in last night, drove down from San Francisco Airport to Mountain View, and then I got up for single morning and I'm here at last three ninety one San Antonio Road, in the heart of Silicon Valley. On the wall of an office building, there's a small plaque and next to it a chart, a family tree of companies, dozens of them, National Semiconductor, Fairchild, Variant, Intel. It's the kind of display you could easily miss if you weren't looking for it, which is a shame because it's a monument to the origins of one of the greatest technological revolutions in human history. It's an office building on a four lane six lane road, kind of a main thoroughfare through Mountain View. Apartments on one side, office buildings on the other. I think three ninety one is a might be a Facebook building. I think I read that somewhere. But back in the day, it was just a little quantset hut on this site, a little wooden structure and like windows up front with a sign over the door, and I I just sort of read you a plaque that is on the front of the building today. The birthplace of Silicon Valley. Nineteen fifty six. At this location, three Antonio Road, the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory manufactured the first silicon devices in what became known as Silicon Valley. Some of the talented scientists and engineers initially employed there left to found their own companies, leading to the birth of the silicon electronics industry in the region. Hundreds of firms in electronics and computing can trace their origins back to Shockley Semiconductor. Here's my question that brought me all the way from New York City to this building in the middle of Silicon Valley. Why was Shockley semi Conductor Laboratories here on San Antonio Road, Of all the places in America? Why did Silicon Valley start right where I'm standing? Dun dun Dun, Dun, dun Dan. My name is Malcolm Blodwell. You're listening to Revisionist History, my podcast about things Overlooked and Misunderstood. This episode is about how the long, narrow valley that lies between the Santa Clara Mountains and San Francisco Bay became the epicenter of the modern age. The transistor, the forerunner of today's computer chips was invented in nineteen forty seven by the team headed by a physicist named William Shockley. Before that, computers and everything electronic ran on vacuum tubes, which were underpowered, oversized, fragile. In the late forties, that changed forever. Shockley invented the transistor, and then there was the chip, and then out of Silicon Valley came a stream of technologies that gave us the world we live in now. But Shockley didn't invent the transistor in northern California. He invented it in New Jersey at the famous Bell Labs in Murray Hill, about ten miles outside of Newark. Then he left Bell Labs and took a teaching job at Caltech in Pasadena, just outside of Los Angeles. And after a stint there and a stint at the Pentagon, he decides to strike out on his own. He lines up a wealthy backer. He starts a company called Shockley Semiconductor, and he recruits the best and the brightest from all around the country. Everyone comes from somewhere else to a quantcet hut on three ninety one San Antonio Road in Mountain View. Because William Shockley wants to set up shop in a QUANTT hut on three ninety one San Antonio Road in Mountain View. The first question I have is really about looking at this from the perspective of the mid fifties, the very beginning. If you and I were having a conversation in nineteen fifty five and we were told a computer revolution was coming in the United States, and I asked, I said to you, on a where do you think I think that revolution will take place? What would you've told me? My first call to Ano Saxonian, professor at Berkeley, who has spent her career trying to understand why certain parts of the country are home to innovation and others aren't.

Pushkin Hello, Hello everyone. Before we get to this episode, I want to let you know about two new exciting shows from Pushkin Industries that you might be interested in. The first is McCartney A Life in Lyrics with Sir Paul McCartney. You'll hear conversations between McCartney and poet Paul muldoon as they dissect the inspirations that shaped McCartney's songwriting. It's a combination masterclass, memoir and improvised journey. If you're a McCartney or a Beatles fan, you will love this show. Pushkin's other new series is from Michael lewis Against the Rules. The new special series is called Judging Sam The Trial of Sam Bankman Freed SBF, the former CEO of Crypto Exchange FTX, is being tried for financial crimes, and again Against the Rules, is following the trial that decides his fate. So go ahead listen to McCartney A Life in Lyrics and Against the Rules. Wherever you get your podcasts, you can also unlock exclusive binge listens and ad free listening for these shows on their Apple podcast show pages or at Pushkin, dot Fm, slash plus. It's a beautiful morning in northern California. I flew in last night, drove down from San Francisco Airport to Mountain View, and then I got up for single morning and I'm here at last three ninety one San Antonio Road, in the heart of Silicon Valley. On the wall of an office building, there's a small plaque and next to it a chart, a family tree of companies, dozens of them, National Semiconductor, Fairchild, Variant, Intel. It's the kind of display you could easily miss if you weren't looking for it, which is a shame because it's a monument to the origins of one of the greatest technological revolutions in human history. It's an office building on a four lane six lane road, kind of a main thoroughfare through Mountain View. Apartments on one side, office buildings on the other. I think three ninety one is a might be a Facebook building. I think I read that somewhere. But back in the day, it was just a little quantset hut on this site, a little wooden structure and like windows up front with a sign over the door, and I I just sort of read you a plaque that is on the front of the building today. The birthplace of Silicon Valley. Nineteen fifty six. At this location, three Antonio Road, the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory manufactured the first silicon devices in what became known as Silicon Valley. Some of the talented scientists and engineers initially employed there left to found their own companies, leading to the birth of the silicon electronics industry in the region. Hundreds of firms in electronics and computing can trace their origins back to Shockley Semiconductor. Here's my question that brought me all the way from New York City to this building in the middle of Silicon Valley. Why was Shockley semi Conductor Laboratories here on San Antonio Road, Of all the places in America? Why did Silicon Valley start right where I'm standing? Dun dun Dun, Dun, dun Dan. My name is Malcolm Blodwell. You're listening to Revisionist History, my podcast about things Overlooked and Misunderstood. This episode is about how the long, narrow valley that lies between the Santa Clara Mountains and San Francisco Bay became the epicenter of the modern age. The transistor, the forerunner of today's computer chips was invented in nineteen forty seven by the team headed by a physicist named William Shockley. Before that, computers and everything electronic ran on vacuum tubes, which were underpowered, oversized, fragile. In the late forties, that changed forever. Shockley invented the transistor, and then there was the chip, and then out of Silicon Valley came a stream of technologies that gave us the world we live in now. But Shockley didn't invent the transistor in northern California. He invented it in New Jersey at the famous Bell Labs in Murray Hill, about ten miles outside of Newark. Then he left Bell Labs and took a teaching job at Caltech in Pasadena, just outside of Los Angeles. And after a stint there and a stint at the Pentagon, he decides to strike out on his own. He lines up a wealthy backer. He starts a company called Shockley Semiconductor, and he recruits the best and the brightest from all around the country. Everyone comes from somewhere else to a quantcet hut on three ninety one San Antonio Road in Mountain View. Because William Shockley wants to set up shop in a QUANTT hut on three ninety one San Antonio Road in Mountain View. The first question I have is really about looking at this from the perspective of the mid fifties, the very beginning. If you and I were having a conversation in nineteen fifty five and we were told a computer revolution was coming in the United States, and I asked, I said to you, on a where do you think I think that revolution will take place? What would you've told me? My first call to Ano Saxonian, professor at Berkeley, who has spent her career trying to understand why certain parts of the country are home to innovation and others aren't.

Probably I would have said Boston, Boston, maybe New Jersey, you know, maybe Chicago, less so New York, you know, definitely on the northeast where all the big manufacturing operations were.

Probably I would have said Boston, Boston, maybe New Jersey, you know, maybe Chicago, less so New York, you know, definitely on the northeast where all the big manufacturing operations were.

And that it's that's the reason. It'd be more specific about what it was about those three cities that would have led you to think that's where the revolution was coming.

And that it's that's the reason. It'd be more specific about what it was about those three cities that would have led you to think that's where the revolution was coming.

Well, first of all, you know, the transistor was being invented at Bill Labs, so there's technical capability. Also, you know MI T also you know activities around Columbia. So there's there's there's universities, there's money. I mean, it's the northeast. So you've got New York right there. So you've got finance. Its expensive to invent you know, transistors and then computers and whatnot. You got proximity to Washingtonton, DC. You know, military contracts really supported the early decades of development. Uh so you've got people, you've got capital, you've got contacts, and you've got existing corporations. That's where the expertise was. That's where all the action was.

Well, first of all, you know, the transistor was being invented at Bill Labs, so there's technical capability. Also, you know MI T also you know activities around Columbia. So there's there's there's universities, there's money. I mean, it's the northeast. So you've got New York right there. So you've got finance. Its expensive to invent you know, transistors and then computers and whatnot. You got proximity to Washingtonton, DC. You know, military contracts really supported the early decades of development. Uh so you've got people, you've got capital, you've got contacts, and you've got existing corporations. That's where the expertise was. That's where all the action was.

I asked the same question of Nathan Miervold, one of the key figures in the growth of Microsoft and one of the ogs of the computer industry.

I asked the same question of Nathan Miervold, one of the key figures in the growth of Microsoft and one of the ogs of the computer industry.

New Jersey and Philadelphia has been the best. Bat Well von Neumann would still have been at in Suit for Advanced Study and he had was super involved. Aeronoff and the team that build ENIAC were at University of Pennsylvania and Bell.

New Jersey and Philadelphia has been the best. Bat Well von Neumann would still have been at in Suit for Advanced Study and he had was super involved. Aeronoff and the team that build ENIAC were at University of Pennsylvania and Bell.

Labs was there.

Labs was there.

It also had oh at RCA and sonof Labs.

It also had oh at RCA and sonof Labs.

Oh wow, So the sonof Labs of.

Oh wow, So the sonof Labs of.

RCA are in Princeton, New Jersey, and that was where David Sarnoff was sort of ruling the RUSS technically in radio, and that was a big, big, big, big deal. So that's where you would have thought it was, because it was already the center of a ton of both radio and electronics and computing.

RCA are in Princeton, New Jersey, and that was where David Sarnoff was sort of ruling the RUSS technically in radio, and that was a big, big, big, big deal. So that's where you would have thought it was, because it was already the center of a ton of both radio and electronics and computing.

Now, there are a few theories out there about why Shockley chose to set up in Santa Clara Valley. One that might seem obvious is that right next door to Mountain View is Polo Alto. Paulo Alto is the home of Stanford University, a world class institution spitting out one brilliant mind after another. But you're thinking of today Stanford, I want to talk about Stanford brim.

Now, there are a few theories out there about why Shockley chose to set up in Santa Clara Valley. One that might seem obvious is that right next door to Mountain View is Polo Alto. Paulo Alto is the home of Stanford University, a world class institution spitting out one brilliant mind after another. But you're thinking of today Stanford, I want to talk about Stanford brim.

Because Stanford always gets all the attention and it a very important. In the fifties, it was not important. It was kind of a chick regional place, so it can't have been the important institution. M I t was way ahead at that time.

Because Stanford always gets all the attention and it a very important. In the fifties, it was not important. It was kind of a chick regional place, so it can't have been the important institution. M I t was way ahead at that time.

The whole thing makes no sense. When he's thinking of setting up his startup, Shockley criss crosses the country. He goes to see one of the Rockefellers, He visits the leading electronics companies of the day. He combs through their financial statements. He does a comparison of the cost of living in Cambridge, Washington, d C. And Michigan. Yale says, we'll give you everything you want. Bell Lab says, come back. Everybody wants him, and what does he do? He says no. He finally finds a backer. He likes, a wealthy entrepreneur named Arnold Beckman who is based near Caltech in Pasadena. Beckman loves Shockley, loves his ideas. Beckman's company makes sophisticated scientific equipment. He has resources, infrastructure, skilled technicians. He says to Shockley, set up here in Pasadena. My guys can help out. I want you here. Shockley already knows Pasadena. He literally worked at Caltech. His benefactor, the man giving him all his money, wants him to be there. Shockley says, no. I want to be in the apricot orchards off the Santa Clara Valley. I find all of the seemingly obvious explanations to be unconvincing.

The whole thing makes no sense. When he's thinking of setting up his startup, Shockley criss crosses the country. He goes to see one of the Rockefellers, He visits the leading electronics companies of the day. He combs through their financial statements. He does a comparison of the cost of living in Cambridge, Washington, d C. And Michigan. Yale says, we'll give you everything you want. Bell Lab says, come back. Everybody wants him, and what does he do? He says no. He finally finds a backer. He likes, a wealthy entrepreneur named Arnold Beckman who is based near Caltech in Pasadena. Beckman loves Shockley, loves his ideas. Beckman's company makes sophisticated scientific equipment. He has resources, infrastructure, skilled technicians. He says to Shockley, set up here in Pasadena. My guys can help out. I want you here. Shockley already knows Pasadena. He literally worked at Caltech. His benefactor, the man giving him all his money, wants him to be there. Shockley says, no. I want to be in the apricot orchards off the Santa Clara Valley. I find all of the seemingly obvious explanations to be unconvincing.

It's a mystery.

It's a mystery.

It's a mystery. Next on my list Richard Florida, author of the hugely influential study Rise of the Creative Class, another take on why certain regions take off and others don't, but Here's the one I really want touch you about, which is the weather? Is it? Is it at all? Why are you looking at me like this? Why I hear the weather explanation and I just roll my eyes as you should, as I should tell Okay, so tell me, tell me why the weather explanation is nonsense.

It's a mystery. Next on my list Richard Florida, author of the hugely influential study Rise of the Creative Class, another take on why certain regions take off and others don't, but Here's the one I really want touch you about, which is the weather? Is it? Is it at all? Why are you looking at me like this? Why I hear the weather explanation and I just roll my eyes as you should, as I should tell Okay, so tell me, tell me why the weather explanation is nonsense.

Well, I mean, Boston was pretty good at this stuff. And you know, I mean, if anything, Silicon Valley emulated Boston right in.

Well, I mean, Boston was pretty good at this stuff. And you know, I mean, if anything, Silicon Valley emulated Boston right in.

The standard explanation for Silicon Valley. Right after people say it was all because of Stanford, they add, oh, and the weather is amazing, as if that settles it. But Florida's point is, since when is there some magical correlation between technological revolutions and good weather? He's totally right. I have to say the weather argument has always driven me crazy. How many times do people say, as a way of explaining the decline of Rust Belt cities like Buffalo or Detroit or Cleveland, Well, the weather's terrible, who would want to live there? Meanwhile, north of the border, directly on the other side of Lake Ontario, there are two of the most successful tech hubs in the world, Toronto and it's sibling down the road, Waterloo. Which have exactly the same weather as Detroit, Buffalo, and Cleveland.

The standard explanation for Silicon Valley. Right after people say it was all because of Stanford, they add, oh, and the weather is amazing, as if that settles it. But Florida's point is, since when is there some magical correlation between technological revolutions and good weather? He's totally right. I have to say the weather argument has always driven me crazy. How many times do people say, as a way of explaining the decline of Rust Belt cities like Buffalo or Detroit or Cleveland, Well, the weather's terrible, who would want to live there? Meanwhile, north of the border, directly on the other side of Lake Ontario, there are two of the most successful tech hubs in the world, Toronto and it's sibling down the road, Waterloo. Which have exactly the same weather as Detroit, Buffalo, and Cleveland.

I was a professor at Carnegie Mellon for nearly twenty years, and you know, we were trying to figure out why Pittsburgh had not turned into a tech hub of the sorts of grif Boston, Cambridge or Palo Alto, the Bay Area, slicon Mood Bay Area. And then somebody said to me, well, one of our peer institutions is Waterloo. You should look at them because they're really good.

I was a professor at Carnegie Mellon for nearly twenty years, and you know, we were trying to figure out why Pittsburgh had not turned into a tech hub of the sorts of grif Boston, Cambridge or Palo Alto, the Bay Area, slicon Mood Bay Area. And then somebody said to me, well, one of our peer institutions is Waterloo. You should look at them because they're really good.

Yeah, and the weather in Waterloo, as someone who grew up outside of Waterloo, is strocious.

Yeah, and the weather in Waterloo, as someone who grew up outside of Waterloo, is strocious.

It's not great.

It's not great.

It's I was just there, it's freezing. I was like, it's not the weather. And I was thinking, your good friend Bill Gates drops out of Harvard because he wants to start a software company, but doesn't go to Silicon Valley, goes home to Seattle. When I was talking to Nathan Meerveld, Microsoft came up. Naturally. Microsoft is the reason Seattle turned into a major tech hub. That's why Amazon's there. But why was Microsoft in Seattle? The story on that is very funny.

It's I was just there, it's freezing. I was like, it's not the weather. And I was thinking, your good friend Bill Gates drops out of Harvard because he wants to start a software company, but doesn't go to Silicon Valley, goes home to Seattle. When I was talking to Nathan Meerveld, Microsoft came up. Naturally. Microsoft is the reason Seattle turned into a major tech hub. That's why Amazon's there. But why was Microsoft in Seattle? The story on that is very funny.

What's the story He and Paul started the company Microsoft that is in New Mexico, because the first PC company was in Albuquerque.

What's the story He and Paul started the company Microsoft that is in New Mexico, because the first PC company was in Albuquerque.

He being Bill Gates, Paul being his co founder Paul Allen. They were high school friends from Seattle.

He being Bill Gates, Paul being his co founder Paul Allen. They were high school friends from Seattle.

And so they literally went across the street from this first PC company and readed some space and they started Microsoft.

And so they literally went across the street from this first PC company and readed some space and they started Microsoft.

Well.

Well.

Within a few years that company had gone under and Microsoft was doing super well. And so Bill sort of characteristically does this big analysis and decides they had to be near either O'Hare Airport or Dallas Fort Worth Airport because from those airports you could get to anywhere in the United States with a commercial because no one's thinking private aviation back then. You could get there and get back and be more. Yeah, and Paul says, God, the weather is terrible those places.

Within a few years that company had gone under and Microsoft was doing super well. And so Bill sort of characteristically does this big analysis and decides they had to be near either O'Hare Airport or Dallas Fort Worth Airport because from those airports you could get to anywhere in the United States with a commercial because no one's thinking private aviation back then. You could get there and get back and be more. Yeah, and Paul says, God, the weather is terrible those places.

Let's just go home. Exactly. Paul Allen tells his Microsoft co founder Bill Gates that they shouldn't move to Chicago or Dallas, they should go home to Seattle because the weather is better there. And you and I both know the weather in Seattle is not better. It's terrible. It does nothing but rain. And by the way, since when does a software programmer care about what the weather's like? They never go outside. I think about this mystery every time I go to northern California. You land at San Francisco Airport, you drive south down the one oh one fog everywhere, traffic is appalling, strip malls on one side, bad office buildings on the other. And Stanford. Enough already about Stanford. It's supposed to be this crown jewel. Have you ever been there? It looks like someone gave a billion dollars to Taco Bell and said, build me a university. Democracy had as its ucible Athens, the Renaissance had Florence, the Impressionists at Paris, the Digital Age as best buy an in and out burger. I don't get it.

Let's just go home. Exactly. Paul Allen tells his Microsoft co founder Bill Gates that they shouldn't move to Chicago or Dallas, they should go home to Seattle because the weather is better there. And you and I both know the weather in Seattle is not better. It's terrible. It does nothing but rain. And by the way, since when does a software programmer care about what the weather's like? They never go outside. I think about this mystery every time I go to northern California. You land at San Francisco Airport, you drive south down the one oh one fog everywhere, traffic is appalling, strip malls on one side, bad office buildings on the other. And Stanford. Enough already about Stanford. It's supposed to be this crown jewel. Have you ever been there? It looks like someone gave a billion dollars to Taco Bell and said, build me a university. Democracy had as its ucible Athens, the Renaissance had Florence, the Impressionists at Paris, the Digital Age as best buy an in and out burger. I don't get it.

My father was a mining engineer, and I maintained that I am probably a Cockney because I believe in the right weather conditions you could hear the sound of bow bells from the apartment where I was born.

My father was a mining engineer, and I maintained that I am probably a Cockney because I believe in the right weather conditions you could hear the sound of bow bells from the apartment where I was born.

That's Shockley being interviewed by the Palo Alto Historical Association in the nineteen sixties. Picture a shiny bald head, thick glasses, chiseled features, handsome fit, and that even relentless delivery. He was born in London. In nineteen ten, the Shackleys returned to the United States, when he was three. He skipped middle school all of it, just went straight from elementary school to high school, Hollywood High in Los Angeles.

That's Shockley being interviewed by the Palo Alto Historical Association in the nineteen sixties. Picture a shiny bald head, thick glasses, chiseled features, handsome fit, and that even relentless delivery. He was born in London. In nineteen ten, the Shackleys returned to the United States, when he was three. He skipped middle school all of it, just went straight from elementary school to high school, Hollywood High in Los Angeles.

And then you went on to college.

And then you went on to college.

Yes, I went to Caltech for my undergraduate and then to MIT for a PhD. I was a physics major all from about my sophomore year in college.

Yes, I went to Caltech for my undergraduate and then to MIT for a PhD. I was a physics major all from about my sophomore year in college.

And after your PhD, armed with your diploma, where did you go?

And after your PhD, armed with your diploma, where did you go?

I went to Belt Holephone Laboratories at that time, where I worked for CJ. Davison, who won the Nobel Prize around nineteen thirty eight for electronic fraction. And he was one of the attractions that brought me to Bell Laboratories.

I went to Belt Holephone Laboratories at that time, where I worked for CJ. Davison, who won the Nobel Prize around nineteen thirty eight for electronic fraction. And he was one of the attractions that brought me to Bell Laboratories.

Shockley's father was older. He died when Shockley was young. Shockley was an only child, raised by his mother, May Bradford. Shockley a steer, intimidating, emotionally withholding. She grew up in New Mexico. A tomboy, comfortable on horseback, and handy with a gun. She had a math degree in an era where most women didn't have degrees at all. One of the first female mining surveyors in the country, she was an accomplished artist who made a small fortune trading stocks on the side. Her thank you was one hundred and sixty one. I mean, come on, if we're going to understand Shockley's great decision, we have to understand Shockley, right. So I called up the New York psycho Analytics Society and I said, I need to talk to someone about William Shockley because this combination absent father, brilliant only child, dominant mother is just a freudient field day. And they got right back to me with a name Philip Hershenfeld, Upper east Side. The psychoanalytic community, and William Shockley, for reasons that will become obvious, turned out to be well acquainted. So, as I explained to you, I had this notion in my head that Freud was very interested in this question of the brilliant only child and the strong mother. Am I right that Freud had thought about it? What did he have to say about that?

Shockley's father was older. He died when Shockley was young. Shockley was an only child, raised by his mother, May Bradford. Shockley a steer, intimidating, emotionally withholding. She grew up in New Mexico. A tomboy, comfortable on horseback, and handy with a gun. She had a math degree in an era where most women didn't have degrees at all. One of the first female mining surveyors in the country, she was an accomplished artist who made a small fortune trading stocks on the side. Her thank you was one hundred and sixty one. I mean, come on, if we're going to understand Shockley's great decision, we have to understand Shockley, right. So I called up the New York psycho Analytics Society and I said, I need to talk to someone about William Shockley because this combination absent father, brilliant only child, dominant mother is just a freudient field day. And they got right back to me with a name Philip Hershenfeld, Upper east Side. The psychoanalytic community, and William Shockley, for reasons that will become obvious, turned out to be well acquainted. So, as I explained to you, I had this notion in my head that Freud was very interested in this question of the brilliant only child and the strong mother. Am I right that Freud had thought about it? What did he have to say about that?

He's said? And I think it was also talking about himself.

He's said? And I think it was also talking about himself.

Just to be clear, when a member of the New York Psychoanalytics Society uses the pronoun he, there's about a ninety nine percent chance they're referring to Freud.

Just to be clear, when a member of the New York Psychoanalytics Society uses the pronoun he, there's about a ninety nine percent chance they're referring to Freud.

That any son who is the This is not the exact quote. The undisputed favorite of his mother, goes through life with the feeling of being a conqueror. Uh huh, and that's a very powerful feeling.

That any son who is the This is not the exact quote. The undisputed favorite of his mother, goes through life with the feeling of being a conqueror. Uh huh, and that's a very powerful feeling.

When Shockley was eight, his mother May wrote in her diary, I woke up with the thought in my mind, the only heritage I care to lead to Billy is the feeling of force and the joy of responsibility for setting the world right on something. He's eight. What mother writes of her eight year old that she desires to leave him with a feeling of force? Good lord, what is that? What was for his explanation for why that relationship would have imbued the son with such power?

When Shockley was eight, his mother May wrote in her diary, I woke up with the thought in my mind, the only heritage I care to lead to Billy is the feeling of force and the joy of responsibility for setting the world right on something. He's eight. What mother writes of her eight year old that she desires to leave him with a feeling of force? Good lord, what is that? What was for his explanation for why that relationship would have imbued the son with such power?

Because it's what any young child strives for. If you are a fan of the Oedipus complex, which I am, you know there's evidence of it everywhere in Shakespeare, in literature, in life, that young child has a feeling of conquering, of overpowering his father perhaps and basking in this love. And there are many examples of that in history. So yeah, I think it can be a very powerful feeling.

Because it's what any young child strives for. If you are a fan of the Oedipus complex, which I am, you know there's evidence of it everywhere in Shakespeare, in literature, in life, that young child has a feeling of conquering, of overpowering his father perhaps and basking in this love. And there are many examples of that in history. So yeah, I think it can be a very powerful feeling.

So we have this brilliant mother who is a little emotionally reserved the sun. Shockley is handsome, unbelievably brilliant, I mean everyone, I mean beyond he said his first word at four months You know that kind of right from the get go, kind of brilliant, unbelievably competitive and self confident, a champion athlete to this day. There's a the in the You're not a mountain clime?

So we have this brilliant mother who is a little emotionally reserved the sun. Shockley is handsome, unbelievably brilliant, I mean everyone, I mean beyond he said his first word at four months You know that kind of right from the get go, kind of brilliant, unbelievably competitive and self confident, a champion athlete to this day. There's a the in the You're not a mountain clime?

Are There's a I live right near the Gonks.

Are There's a I live right near the Gonks.

Oh, the Gunks. Do you know about Shockley's cliff?

Oh, the Gunks. Do you know about Shockley's cliff?

Yes, I do, I know ceiling.

Yes, I do, I know ceiling.

The Shawnagunks are a mountain range in the Catskills just outside of New York City. Shockley conquered a particularly challenging rock formation there and immediately they named it after him. Literally, there is no mountain he cannot climb. There's a really wonderful biography of Shockley written some years ago by Joel Shirkin, Broken Genius, which begins with the sentence, I believe that William Shockley was, in terms of practical impact on the world, one of the most important scientists of the twentieth century. And then Shirkin goes on to convince you why that's true. And here's the strange thing. The most compelling chapter of the book is not the part about Shockley's role in the invention of the transistor, arguably one of the one or two most important innovations of the twentieth century. No, it's the chapter on what Sharkley did during the Second World War. It's insane. Basically, he's working at Bell Labs, then the premiere industry research and development organization in the world, and the government comes to him just before the war and says, hey, we're doing some interesting things with uranium. Do you think it might someday be possible to generate power from nuclear fuel. Two months later, Shockley comes back and says, here you go, this is how you do it. Work gets around that there's this genius in New Jersey, and so he signs on as the kind of problem solver in chief with the Secretary of War. He gets an official pass from the government that allows him to board any commercial flight, and over the course of the Second World War he flies all around the world solving problems. The Navy says, we're having trouble hitting German submarines with underwater explosives. Can you help. Within two months, Shockley has increased their hit rate by five hundred percent. Shirkin estimates that Shockley's ideas about protecting the Navy's ships saved thousands of lives in the North Atlantic. Some of you may remember the series we did at Revisionist History about Curtis le May's fire bombing campaign of Japan at the end of the Second World War, who flew to the South Pacific to teach bombing cruise about how to use radar during night attacks. Shockley, I could go on. He's the guy who writes one of the crucial memos proving that many, many more millions of lives would be lost if America invaded Japan at the end of the Second World War. Then if it dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the war ends. The Pentagon won't let him go. They've never met anyone like him before. Then he helps invent the transistor, wins the Nobel Prize, has the idea to start the first the original computer age startup, and Chris crosses America, convincing one brilliant mind after another to join his new venture. This dynamic genius walks into the labs of twenty something graduate students across the country and announces, I am Shockley. I am here representing the future. Here's the physicist Victor Jones remembering his first contact with Shockley. Everyone, by the way, who met Shockley remembers the first time they met Shockley.

The Shawnagunks are a mountain range in the Catskills just outside of New York City. Shockley conquered a particularly challenging rock formation there and immediately they named it after him. Literally, there is no mountain he cannot climb. There's a really wonderful biography of Shockley written some years ago by Joel Shirkin, Broken Genius, which begins with the sentence, I believe that William Shockley was, in terms of practical impact on the world, one of the most important scientists of the twentieth century. And then Shirkin goes on to convince you why that's true. And here's the strange thing. The most compelling chapter of the book is not the part about Shockley's role in the invention of the transistor, arguably one of the one or two most important innovations of the twentieth century. No, it's the chapter on what Sharkley did during the Second World War. It's insane. Basically, he's working at Bell Labs, then the premiere industry research and development organization in the world, and the government comes to him just before the war and says, hey, we're doing some interesting things with uranium. Do you think it might someday be possible to generate power from nuclear fuel. Two months later, Shockley comes back and says, here you go, this is how you do it. Work gets around that there's this genius in New Jersey, and so he signs on as the kind of problem solver in chief with the Secretary of War. He gets an official pass from the government that allows him to board any commercial flight, and over the course of the Second World War he flies all around the world solving problems. The Navy says, we're having trouble hitting German submarines with underwater explosives. Can you help. Within two months, Shockley has increased their hit rate by five hundred percent. Shirkin estimates that Shockley's ideas about protecting the Navy's ships saved thousands of lives in the North Atlantic. Some of you may remember the series we did at Revisionist History about Curtis le May's fire bombing campaign of Japan at the end of the Second World War, who flew to the South Pacific to teach bombing cruise about how to use radar during night attacks. Shockley, I could go on. He's the guy who writes one of the crucial memos proving that many, many more millions of lives would be lost if America invaded Japan at the end of the Second World War. Then if it dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the war ends. The Pentagon won't let him go. They've never met anyone like him before. Then he helps invent the transistor, wins the Nobel Prize, has the idea to start the first the original computer age startup, and Chris crosses America, convincing one brilliant mind after another to join his new venture. This dynamic genius walks into the labs of twenty something graduate students across the country and announces, I am Shockley. I am here representing the future. Here's the physicist Victor Jones remembering his first contact with Shockley. Everyone, by the way, who met Shockley remembers the first time they met Shockley.

I was saying my working talks in the lab, but Shockley said, why don't you go get cleaned up and we'll go off for lunch. And we've off for lunch at the farewea hotel for a starry It was a bit of a shock, but it was probably the most intense after the physical that happened quite a long time.

I was saying my working talks in the lab, but Shockley said, why don't you go get cleaned up and we'll go off for lunch. And we've off for lunch at the farewea hotel for a starry It was a bit of a shock, but it was probably the most intense after the physical that happened quite a long time.

They talked for seven hours. Then Shockley was off to jump on a plane or a train to recruit another young talent. Here is Jay Last, another of Shockley's best and brightest. In an interview with the historian David Brock.

They talked for seven hours. Then Shockley was off to jump on a plane or a train to recruit another young talent. Here is Jay Last, another of Shockley's best and brightest. In an interview with the historian David Brock.

Yeah, and personally visited me at MIT, and I was telling him some of the problems I was having with my doc giral work and where I can just figure it out in the second really just unbelievable.

Yeah, and personally visited me at MIT, and I was telling him some of the problems I was having with my doc giral work and where I can just figure it out in the second really just unbelievable.

Mind.

Mind.

So that must have impressed you greatly, yes.

So that must have impressed you greatly, yes.

Yeah, And.

Yeah, And.

So then.

So then.

Then I went down to visit him and another visiting Washington at the Cosmos Club and sitting down and join me for breakfast, and as I took a night trained down and there, and here was sitting at table with like Admiral Ricover.

Then I went down to visit him and another visiting Washington at the Cosmos Club and sitting down and join me for breakfast, and as I took a night trained down and there, and here was sitting at table with like Admiral Ricover.

Man of har Boys.

Man of har Boys.

Everybody I ever heard about.

Everybody I ever heard about.

Was sitting at that table having breakfast with Shockley, and so it was quite overwsted, quite overwhelmed.

Was sitting at that table having breakfast with Shockley, and so it was quite overwsted, quite overwhelmed.

Admiral Rickover was one of the most famous military figures of his day, the pioneer of nuclear propulsion. Vanavar Bush was, and there's no better way to put it, the king of American science at the time. That was just breakfast. There are countless stories like this. Here's a young physicist named Julius Blank who Shockley summoned to meet him at Newark Airport between flights.

Admiral Rickover was one of the most famous military figures of his day, the pioneer of nuclear propulsion. Vanavar Bush was, and there's no better way to put it, the king of American science at the time. That was just breakfast. There are countless stories like this. Here's a young physicist named Julius Blank who Shockley summoned to meet him at Newark Airport between flights.

Did he describe to you then or were early on in the in the whole conversation about what his what he wanted to do with Shockley's semiconductor.

Did he describe to you then or were early on in the in the whole conversation about what his what he wanted to do with Shockley's semiconductor.

Really, I didn't think you knew he was just he was his name Ross as silicon.

Really, I didn't think you knew he was just he was his name Ross as silicon.

We would work focus on silicon and in ways to make devices out of it. They weren't sure whether they were going to use, whether they're gonna do alloy or the fursion. They were exploring to find on what the best way he was and they didn't even know what to make just to make it a transistor with silicon.

We would work focus on silicon and in ways to make devices out of it. They weren't sure whether they were going to use, whether they're gonna do alloy or the fursion. They were exploring to find on what the best way he was and they didn't even know what to make just to make it a transistor with silicon.

At the time, most people were trying to make computer chips out of something called germanium, which is far inferior to silicon. Not to mention that germanium valley doesn't sound nearly as glamorous. Shockley was like, no, no, I have a better idea. But and this is a crucial butt. Why is his biography called broken Genius? Because there's another side to Shockley. There always is, isn't there. It shows up early. He's an impossible child. He bites his parents, breaks things, throws tantrums. Once he fires the stone at the docks and hits the dog squarely between the eyes, that temper never goes away. He's cold, grandiose. He turns on the charm when he's recruiting all those brilliant young scientists to join his startup in Mountain View, but once they arrived they quickly realize he's a monster. He's controlling, paranoid. Here's Harry Cello, one of Shockley's earliest tires.

At the time, most people were trying to make computer chips out of something called germanium, which is far inferior to silicon. Not to mention that germanium valley doesn't sound nearly as glamorous. Shockley was like, no, no, I have a better idea. But and this is a crucial butt. Why is his biography called broken Genius? Because there's another side to Shockley. There always is, isn't there. It shows up early. He's an impossible child. He bites his parents, breaks things, throws tantrums. Once he fires the stone at the docks and hits the dog squarely between the eyes, that temper never goes away. He's cold, grandiose. He turns on the charm when he's recruiting all those brilliant young scientists to join his startup in Mountain View, but once they arrived they quickly realize he's a monster. He's controlling, paranoid. Here's Harry Cello, one of Shockley's earliest tires.

What was the initial contact.

What was the initial contact.

The initial contact was an invitation to.

The initial contact was an invitation to.

Come and talk to him, okay, and he told me about who he was and just get acquainted. But what he didn't tell me was what I had to go through before I could be accepted, and that was three days with intense psychological examinations.

Come and talk to him, okay, and he told me about who he was and just get acquainted. But what he didn't tell me was what I had to go through before I could be accepted, and that was three days with intense psychological examinations.

And that's a story practically in itself. I mean, I went weekends. I couldn't go from work, so I went on Saturdays and Sundays, three successive weekends, and went through a battery of psychological tests. You wouldn't believe.

And that's a story practically in itself. I mean, I went weekends. I couldn't go from work, so I went on Saturdays and Sundays, three successive weekends, and went through a battery of psychological tests. You wouldn't believe.

Shockley forced every one of his recruits to take Ruschach tests, the thematic our perception to brain teasers, imagined a tennis tournament with one hundred and twenty seven entrants, blah blah blah. He wanted to make sure they were smart enough to work for him, but not smarter than him.

Shockley forced every one of his recruits to take Ruschach tests, the thematic our perception to brain teasers, imagined a tennis tournament with one hundred and twenty seven entrants, blah blah blah. He wanted to make sure they were smart enough to work for him, but not smarter than him.

And the reason for those test is you probably already know, was that he did not trust the behavior of the scientists and that he had already run across or felt he had run across. It was a reflection of the trouble he was beginning to have with his senior scientists.

And the reason for those test is you probably already know, was that he did not trust the behavior of the scientists and that he had already run across or felt he had run across. It was a reflection of the trouble he was beginning to have with his senior scientists.

Once Shockley's secretary cut herself on a pin that was sticking in a door, Shockley was convinced someone had deliberately put it there in an attempt to injure him. As he opened the door, he confronted his staff. They denied it, so he tried to ship everyone up to San Francisco to take a lie detector test.

Once Shockley's secretary cut herself on a pin that was sticking in a door, Shockley was convinced someone had deliberately put it there in an attempt to injure him. As he opened the door, he confronted his staff. They denied it, so he tried to ship everyone up to San Francisco to take a lie detector test.

Roberts later on was the one who solved the famous episode of the pin, which you probably heard about.

Roberts later on was the one who solved the famous episode of the pin, which you probably heard about.

Olden Roberts, another of Shockley's best and brightest.

Olden Roberts, another of Shockley's best and brightest.

Oh the push Yeah, the push pin that Shockley felt somebody at place to try to get him, and Roberts simply took the pin out of the wall, stuck a under the microscope, and saw was a thumbtack which had broken off.

Oh the push Yeah, the push pin that Shockley felt somebody at place to try to get him, and Roberts simply took the pin out of the wall, stuck a under the microscope, and saw was a thumbtack which had broken off.

Shockley never believed that.

Shockley never believed that.

This is why, in fact, Shockley Semi Conductor ends up spawning so many other companies. Shockley brings the world's computer geniuses to Mountain View, and then after just a year, eight of Shockley's most brilliant hires decide enough is enough and leave En Masse to start other companies. From that point on, they're known as the Traitorous Eight, and the reason they start their new companies in the Santa Clara Valley, by the way, as opposed to going back to the East Coast, is that they've all bought houses in Palo Alto, which is something that someone in their twenties could do back then, if you can imagine that.

This is why, in fact, Shockley Semi Conductor ends up spawning so many other companies. Shockley brings the world's computer geniuses to Mountain View, and then after just a year, eight of Shockley's most brilliant hires decide enough is enough and leave En Masse to start other companies. From that point on, they're known as the Traitorous Eight, and the reason they start their new companies in the Santa Clara Valley, by the way, as opposed to going back to the East Coast, is that they've all bought houses in Palo Alto, which is something that someone in their twenties could do back then, if you can imagine that.

Well, one thing that.

Well, one thing that.

Shockley told me a story, and I could see it was more than a joke to him.

Shockley told me a story, and I could see it was more than a joke to him.

It was something fairly serious.

It was something fairly serious.

It was about a fellow in a mental institution that's looking out through the bars and sees a truck driving under an underpass, and a truck gets stuck.

It was about a fellow in a mental institution that's looking out through the bars and sees a truck driving under an underpass, and a truck gets stuck.

And they can.

And they can.

Figure out how to get the truck out, and the guy in his aisle and shouts, we'll just let the air out of the tires a little bit, and then he pushed it through and he said, well, how's a guy in a mental institution figure out?

Figure out how to get the truck out, and the guy in his aisle and shouts, we'll just let the air out of the tires a little bit, and then he pushed it through and he said, well, how's a guy in a mental institution figure out?

And the guy said.

And the guy said.

I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid. And I could see the sort of attention to his voice mean was telling me. And he told that story to me twice, so I could tell that I could see something that he was thinking along these lines that.

I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid. And I could see the sort of attention to his voice mean was telling me. And he told that story to me twice, so I could tell that I could see something that he was thinking along these lines that.

With his brilliancy, he had some very serious other problems.

With his brilliancy, he had some very serious other problems.

Oh yes he did. By the way, we're about to talk about suicide and mental health difficulties.

Oh yes he did. By the way, we're about to talk about suicide and mental health difficulties.

So let me tell you what I think some of the foundations of his personality might have been.

So let me tell you what I think some of the foundations of his personality might have been.

Back on the couch with doctor Herschenfelder.

Back on the couch with doctor Herschenfelder.

Number one, the genius level, intellectual endowment. Number two, the infusion of his mother's approval, encouragement, or that we're developing those muscles. Number three. One of the reasons she homeschooled him was because he had uncontrollable temper tantrums. Now, what's that about. Lots of kids have temper trans rooms, but it doesn't they're not to that degree that it keeps them out of school at least for some period of time. So what I put that together with is again speculation of how as he got older he became more and more weird. After he was such a brilliant scientist inventor of the transistor, he became a really nutty racist, coming up with all sorts of what I would call delusional thinking about race. I put that all together, I come up with a bipolar disorder, Oh wow, which showed itself early with this uncontrollable aggression and showed itself later with paranoid thinking.

Number one, the genius level, intellectual endowment. Number two, the infusion of his mother's approval, encouragement, or that we're developing those muscles. Number three. One of the reasons she homeschooled him was because he had uncontrollable temper tantrums. Now, what's that about. Lots of kids have temper trans rooms, but it doesn't they're not to that degree that it keeps them out of school at least for some period of time. So what I put that together with is again speculation of how as he got older he became more and more weird. After he was such a brilliant scientist inventor of the transistor, he became a really nutty racist, coming up with all sorts of what I would call delusional thinking about race. I put that all together, I come up with a bipolar disorder, Oh wow, which showed itself early with this uncontrollable aggression and showed itself later with paranoid thinking.

I left this part out. Over the last twenty years of his life, Shockley becomes a full on eugenicist who uses his celebrity to mount an offensive and increasingly embarrassing campaign. He wants the government to pay people who he considers to be of inferior genetic stock not to have children, by which he means black people. This is why Shockley's role as the father of Silicon Valley hasn't given him the enduring celebrity of his mid century peers like say Linus Pauling or Richard Feynman, because he completely goes off the rails. Even Shockley ceiling that legendary rock climb in the Shauna Gunks eventually gets renamed. You know about Shockley's suicide attempt, I do not, okay, which was more kind of interesting. It's when his first marriage is on the rocks and he plays Russian Roulette and writes that a suicide note, which he then was put in a safe and was discovered upon his death, in which he, you know, explains that this was the only course of action he felt, and he does. He puts the gun to his head and spins the pins, the cylinder and the revolver and pulls a trigger and survives. So you know, this was a man prone to extremes. Shockley's suicide note, by the way, is so Shockley, and so heartbreaking. It's written to his wife, jean Dear Gene, I am sorry that I feel that 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. Most people do not feel this way, I'm sure. 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 see no reason to believe other than that I shall continually become worse in these regards as time passes. I hope you have better luck in the future. Shockley's marriage to Jeanne was always rocky. It's clear he did not consider her his equal, but who was. He didn't even think the best and the brightest to be convinced to join him on San Antonio Road were his equal. He grew disenchanted with his brilliant hires, and he was forced over the rest of his life to watch his proteges go on to become Silicon Valley, multi millionaires and billionaires. Intel, the biggest chip maker in the world, was founded by Robert Neiss and Gordon Moore. Noise and Moore were brought to the Santa Clair Valley by Shokley and Noise and more abandoned Shokley. He spent his final years giving crazy lectures on college campuses in favor of eugenics. An isolated and reviled figure, but he still had mom. May Bradford Shokley. Boxes and boxes of their letters sit in the Stamford Library Archives. Shockley inviting his mother to join him on a trip, May giving her son stock tips. Two emotionally repressed geniuses communicating the best way they know how in short, concise notes. Here was Shockley running to his mother sometime in the early nineteen fifties, at a time when he here is to have suffered something like a nervous breakdown. The letter begins, Dear May, he always called his mother by her first name. To bring you up to date, I am planning to leave the Washington job between the tenth of July and the tenth of August. Gene and I are planning a divorce. No particular hard feelings. I hope, but we do not get along. I am also probably leaving Bell Labs currently. It is my intention to start a company of my own, just to be clear. In three sentences, in the first paragraph of a two page letter to his mom, Shockley A tells her that the work with the Pentagon that has defined his life since the outbreak of the Second World War is over. B He's leaving his job at Bell Labs, where he has worked since getting his pH d almost twenty years before. C. He intends to start a new company, which will, of course prove to be the most important startup in the history of startups. And d oh, by the way, he's divorcing his wife for twenty years, with whom he has three children. Then next paragraph he changes the subject. May writes back, dear Bill, your letter quote filled me with sadness and helplessness. But be assured that always you have my loyalty, sympathy and affection, and never any questions asked, my loyalty and affection, and never any questions asked. That's it, That's all she needs to say, and then she changes the subject. They are forever bound together, peas in a pod. A little bit later, Shockley wins a nobel who does he send a telegram to immediately Mom? Of course, congratulations on being the mother of a Nobel laureate. And you can feel her heart burst, can't you? To the extent at least that her heart could burst because her prediction about her eight year old Vunderkin has come true. The only heritage I care to leave to Billy is the feeling of force and the joy of responsibility for setting the world right on something. The telegram is addressed by the way to missus W. H. Shockley to sixty one Waverley Street, Palo Alto. Let me read that to you again in case you missed it. Two sixty one Waverley Street, Palo Alto, California. William Sharckley's mother, May Shockley lived in Palo Alto. You could walk from her house to three ninety one San Antonio Road, where Shockley so mysteriously chose to launch his revolution. Why did the Santa Clara Valley become the birthplace of the computer age because someone wanted to be close to Mom. So let's now turn to what interests me the most, which is this whole episode is an attempt to make sense of this hugely consequential decision Shockley makes, which is to cite his new enterprise, Shock Elapse in Mountain View, Palo Alto. Basically and rationally, it makes no sense. The last place you would start a semiconductric company if you were rational in nineteen fifty six is Palo Alto. And the only thing that's in Palo Alto is his mom.

I left this part out. Over the last twenty years of his life, Shockley becomes a full on eugenicist who uses his celebrity to mount an offensive and increasingly embarrassing campaign. He wants the government to pay people who he considers to be of inferior genetic stock not to have children, by which he means black people. This is why Shockley's role as the father of Silicon Valley hasn't given him the enduring celebrity of his mid century peers like say Linus Pauling or Richard Feynman, because he completely goes off the rails. Even Shockley ceiling that legendary rock climb in the Shauna Gunks eventually gets renamed. You know about Shockley's suicide attempt, I do not, okay, which was more kind of interesting. It's when his first marriage is on the rocks and he plays Russian Roulette and writes that a suicide note, which he then was put in a safe and was discovered upon his death, in which he, you know, explains that this was the only course of action he felt, and he does. He puts the gun to his head and spins the pins, the cylinder and the revolver and pulls a trigger and survives. So you know, this was a man prone to extremes. Shockley's suicide note, by the way, is so Shockley, and so heartbreaking. It's written to his wife, jean Dear Gene, I am sorry that I feel that 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. Most people do not feel this way, I'm sure. 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 see no reason to believe other than that I shall continually become worse in these regards as time passes. I hope you have better luck in the future. Shockley's marriage to Jeanne was always rocky. It's clear he did not consider her his equal, but who was. He didn't even think the best and the brightest to be convinced to join him on San Antonio Road were his equal. He grew disenchanted with his brilliant hires, and he was forced over the rest of his life to watch his proteges go on to become Silicon Valley, multi millionaires and billionaires. Intel, the biggest chip maker in the world, was founded by Robert Neiss and Gordon Moore. Noise and Moore were brought to the Santa Clair Valley by Shokley and Noise and more abandoned Shokley. He spent his final years giving crazy lectures on college campuses in favor of eugenics. An isolated and reviled figure, but he still had mom. May Bradford Shokley. Boxes and boxes of their letters sit in the Stamford Library Archives. Shockley inviting his mother to join him on a trip, May giving her son stock tips. Two emotionally repressed geniuses communicating the best way they know how in short, concise notes. Here was Shockley running to his mother sometime in the early nineteen fifties, at a time when he here is to have suffered something like a nervous breakdown. The letter begins, Dear May, he always called his mother by her first name. To bring you up to date, I am planning to leave the Washington job between the tenth of July and the tenth of August. Gene and I are planning a divorce. No particular hard feelings. I hope, but we do not get along. I am also probably leaving Bell Labs currently. It is my intention to start a company of my own, just to be clear. In three sentences, in the first paragraph of a two page letter to his mom, Shockley A tells her that the work with the Pentagon that has defined his life since the outbreak of the Second World War is over. B He's leaving his job at Bell Labs, where he has worked since getting his pH d almost twenty years before. C. He intends to start a new company, which will, of course prove to be the most important startup in the history of startups. And d oh, by the way, he's divorcing his wife for twenty years, with whom he has three children. Then next paragraph he changes the subject. May writes back, dear Bill, your letter quote filled me with sadness and helplessness. But be assured that always you have my loyalty, sympathy and affection, and never any questions asked, my loyalty and affection, and never any questions asked. That's it, That's all she needs to say, and then she changes the subject. They are forever bound together, peas in a pod. A little bit later, Shockley wins a nobel who does he send a telegram to immediately Mom? Of course, congratulations on being the mother of a Nobel laureate. And you can feel her heart burst, can't you? To the extent at least that her heart could burst because her prediction about her eight year old Vunderkin has come true. The only heritage I care to leave to Billy is the feeling of force and the joy of responsibility for setting the world right on something. The telegram is addressed by the way to missus W. H. Shockley to sixty one Waverley Street, Palo Alto. Let me read that to you again in case you missed it. Two sixty one Waverley Street, Palo Alto, California. William Sharckley's mother, May Shockley lived in Palo Alto. You could walk from her house to three ninety one San Antonio Road, where Shockley so mysteriously chose to launch his revolution. Why did the Santa Clara Valley become the birthplace of the computer age because someone wanted to be close to Mom. So let's now turn to what interests me the most, which is this whole episode is an attempt to make sense of this hugely consequential decision Shockley makes, which is to cite his new enterprise, Shock Elapse in Mountain View, Palo Alto. Basically and rationally, it makes no sense. The last place you would start a semiconductric company if you were rational in nineteen fifty six is Palo Alto. And the only thing that's in Palo Alto is his mom.

Oh is that all?

Oh is that all?

Well?

Well?

I'm reminded of a paper I read years ago, and I can't remember where it was, But a couple of psychologists started studying the histories of virtuoso pianists and violinists, and they found one thing in common throughout all of them, and only one thing, which is that when they were young children, when they were practicing, their mothers sat with them.

I'm reminded of a paper I read years ago, and I can't remember where it was, But a couple of psychologists started studying the histories of virtuoso pianists and violinists, and they found one thing in common throughout all of them, and only one thing, which is that when they were young children, when they were practicing, their mothers sat with them.

Oh really, yeah, really.

Oh really, yeah, really.

Now, that doesn't mean if your mother sits with you, you're going to turn into a yasha haipex because you also have to have the gift. But your mother sitting with you does a lot to bring out that gift. Yeah, to win her approval, to win her admiration.

Now, that doesn't mean if your mother sits with you, you're going to turn into a yasha haipex because you also have to have the gift. But your mother sitting with you does a lot to bring out that gift. Yeah, to win her approval, to win her admiration.

Wait, Philips is so lovely. So here we have a man making the biggest taking the biggest risk of his career. He's just won the Nobel and he's please putting it all on the line to start to strike out from his own on his own leading Bell Labs, the most sam ass well funded. He's leaving all that behind and get a setup shop in a little garage with a bunch of people who he's convinced to come and join him. And you're saying he needs his mother on the piano bench beside him.

Wait, Philips is so lovely. So here we have a man making the biggest taking the biggest risk of his career. He's just won the Nobel and he's please putting it all on the line to start to strike out from his own on his own leading Bell Labs, the most sam ass well funded. He's leaving all that behind and get a setup shop in a little garage with a bunch of people who he's convinced to come and join him. And you're saying he needs his mother on the piano bench beside him.

I'm also saying that people with this kind of disorder are extremely impulsive. Often they don't think it out clearly. But I'm also saying that maybe this was a spark of genius that he knew, for whatever reason, that Palo Alto was the place to have this new beginning.

I'm also saying that people with this kind of disorder are extremely impulsive. Often they don't think it out clearly. But I'm also saying that maybe this was a spark of genius that he knew, for whatever reason, that Palo Alto was the place to have this new beginning.

Yeah, but that the specific psychological function of needing to be near his mother as he takes this enormous step into the unknown. Right, that's not trivial.

Yeah, but that the specific psychological function of needing to be near his mother as he takes this enormous step into the unknown. Right, that's not trivial.

No, No, is your mother trivial in your life? No, man, but mineus not even.

No, No, is your mother trivial in your life? No, man, but mineus not even.

We construct a history of the greatest technological revolution of our time, and we build our theory out of macro forces, institutions, structural advantages. We look for a grand logic, a reason big enough to match the magnitude of the outcome. But there is no grand logic. There's just an aging widow living on a quiet street in Paloualdo who wanted her golden boy next to her, and the golden boy himself stretched to the limit by his own demons, who needed her next to him. Why in when we come to do a formal accounting or something like this, are we so allergic to the personal explanation.

We construct a history of the greatest technological revolution of our time, and we build our theory out of macro forces, institutions, structural advantages. We look for a grand logic, a reason big enough to match the magnitude of the outcome. But there is no grand logic. There's just an aging widow living on a quiet street in Paloualdo who wanted her golden boy next to her, and the golden boy himself stretched to the limit by his own demons, who needed her next to him. Why in when we come to do a formal accounting or something like this, are we so allergic to the personal explanation.

Because we want to ignore it because that would apply to us also, and we want to paint a rational picture. Sure, we're in Palo Alto because of somebody's mother. This was Freud's biggest struggle. This is why he was not accepted in eighteen ninety five and why he is still vilified today because people don't like to think about their irrational side, their unconscious side, the fact that yeah, we're smart, we're rational, we do all of these various things, but we also have an unconscious which is full of sexuality and aggression. And who in the right mind would want to think about that.

Because we want to ignore it because that would apply to us also, and we want to paint a rational picture. Sure, we're in Palo Alto because of somebody's mother. This was Freud's biggest struggle. This is why he was not accepted in eighteen ninety five and why he is still vilified today because people don't like to think about their irrational side, their unconscious side, the fact that yeah, we're smart, we're rational, we do all of these various things, but we also have an unconscious which is full of sexuality and aggression. And who in the right mind would want to think about that.

The shrine at three ninety one San Antonio Road is incomplete? Can we fix it?

The shrine at three ninety one San Antonio Road is incomplete? Can we fix it?

Please?

Please?

Maybe in time for next Mother's Day. In the middle of the massive search campuses, the miles and miles of office buildings, the coders and engineers and technological wizards hunched over their laptops. We need a proper monument, a statue of May Bradford Shockley, front and center, on her horse, gun in hand, watching over her little boy, the grandmother of Silicon Valley. This episode of Revisionist History was produced by Tali Emlin, Ben Nadaph Haffrey, Kiara Powell, and Jacob Smith, editing by Peter Clowney and Sarah Nix, original scoring by Luis Gara, fact checking by Arthur Gompertz, mastering by Jake Gorsky, and engineering by Nina Lawrence. I'm Malcolm Glamo.

Maybe in time for next Mother's Day. In the middle of the massive search campuses, the miles and miles of office buildings, the coders and engineers and technological wizards hunched over their laptops. We need a proper monument, a statue of May Bradford Shockley, front and center, on her horse, gun in hand, watching over her little boy, the grandmother of Silicon Valley. This episode of Revisionist History was produced by Tali Emlin, Ben Nadaph Haffrey, Kiara Powell, and Jacob Smith, editing by Peter Clowney and Sarah Nix, original scoring by Luis Gara, fact checking by Arthur Gompertz, mastering by Jake Gorsky, and engineering by Nina Lawrence. I'm Malcolm Glamo.