IT Legends: Technology's Most Pioneering and Innovative Heroes

William Shockley: The Nobel Prize Winner Who Pioneered Silicon Valley The name of William Shockley is synonymous with the development of Silicon Valley, and he is regarded by many to be the father of the modern transistor industry. Shockley was a physics professor, inventor and entrepreneur with a Nobel Prize that recognized his pioneering work in solid-state physics. Shockley’s inventive mind and spartan principles helped him to take semiconductor technology from being a niche research tool to a multibillion-dollar industry. Shockley was born in London to American parents but raised in Palo Alto, California. He studied physics at Stanford University, and after graduating in 1934 he had a brief teaching career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and worked on radar counter measures. After the War, he returned to Stanford, accepting a teaching position in physics and continuing to pursue his research interests in tr...

Bardeen, Brattain and Shockley: The Transistors Inventors Who Changed the Face of Technology Transistors are an essential part of the electronic age, and the invention of the transistor was a crucial step in the development of the modern world. The history of the transistor is as fascinating as its impact has been, and while it has been changed and adapted over the years, the three names that are most commonly associated with it are Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley. This article looks at the incredible story behind the trio, and how their invention paved the way for the technology of today. John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley are credited as the inventors of the point-contact transistor in 1947, which built upon the work of many others in the fields of physics and materials science. But the question is, how did these three heroes come together to create such a revolutionary device? Bardeen and Brattain had been working together for a few years when Shockley joined the t...