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CHEMICAL HERITAGE FOUNDATION R. VICTOR JONES Transcript of An CHEMICAL HERITAGE FOUNDATION R. VICTOR JONES Transcript of an Interview Conducted by David C. Brock Via Telephone on 18 April 2006 (With Subsequent Corrections and Additions) ACKNOWLEDGMENT This oral history is part of a series supported by grants from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. This series is an important resource for the history of semiconductor electronics, documenting the life and career of Gordon E. Moore, including his experiences and those of others in Shockley Semiconductor, Fairchild Semiconductor, Intel, as well as contexts beyond the semiconductor industry. This oral history is made possible through the generosity of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. This oral history is designated Free Access. Please note: Users citing this interview for purposes of publication are obliged under the terms of the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) Oral History Program to credit CHF using the format below: R. Victor Jones, interview by David C. Brock via telephone, 18 April 2006 (Philadelphia: Chemical Heritage Foundation, Oral History Transcript # 0336). Chemical Heritage Foundation Oral History Program 315 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106 The Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) serves the community of the chemical and molecular sciences, and the wider public, by treasuring the past, educating the present, and inspiring the future. CHF maintains a world-class collection of materials that document the history and heritage of the chemical and molecular sciences, technologies, and industries; encourages research in CHF collections; and carries out a program of outreach and interpretation in order to advance an understanding of the role of the chemical and molecular sciences, technologies, and industries in shaping society. R. VICTOR JONES 1929 Born in Oakland, California on 8 June Education 1951 A.B., physics, University of California, Berkeley 1956 Ph.D., physics, University of California, Berkeley Professional Experience Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory 1956-1957 Senior Engineer Harvard University 1957-1961 Assistant Professor of Applied Physics 1961-1964 Associate Professor of Applied Physics 1964-1982 Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics 1969-1971 Associate Dean, Division of Engineering and Applied Physics 1971-1972 Dean, Graduate Schools of Arts and Sciences 1982-present Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics ABSTRACT R. Victor Jones grew up in Oakland, California, son of Welsh immigrants. His father was a machinist, and Victor learned many useful mechanical skills from him. From a young age Jones was interested in physics, reading a great deal about the new fields of atomic and nuclear physics. He also liked to build things, his largest creation being an oscilloscope. He attended local public schools, where he says he was an indifferent student, except in physics and chemistry, which he loved. Jones matriculated into the University of California, Berkeley, at which point he began to enjoy studying and to work hard. He entered the lab of Walter Knight, where he worked in the new field of nuclear magnetic resonance, and discovered the joy of doing research and of intellectual discourse. Jones continued into graduate school at Berkeley in great part because there were few jobs. He worked in Carson Jeffries’s lab, where his thesis work dealt with electron transport in a molecular afterglow. The Korean War again initiated a demand for sophisticated electronics, and Jones accepted a job with Bell [Telephone] Laboratories, where he would be able to pursue his work in gas discharge. He was finishing his thesis work when William Shockley walked into his lab and began asking questions. An intense afternoon and evening of discussion with Shockley led into aggressive recruitment until Jones finally accepted Shockley’s offer of a job at the new Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory. Shockley believed semiconductors were the wave of the future, and he espoused diffused-base technology. Shockley insisted on using only silicon, which at that time was extremely difficult to work with. He at once put Jones to work on the four-layer diode; he also used Jones to help him recruit other scientists. There were difficulties encountered in getting the lab started, though he was able to recruit a number of scientists. From the outset, lab work was compartmentalized and Shockley frequently changed the goals of the lab. From Jones’s perspective, Shockley was a genius that was shortsighted because he had no use for magnetic resonance. Uncomfortable in the high-stress atmosphere of the lab and wanting to work with his primary interest, electromagnetic theory, Jones decided after only two years to look for work in the academy, where he expected to be able to ―decompress.‖ Arnold Beckman, one of Shockley’s financiers, tried to hire Jones as a liaison to Shockley, but Jones turned Beckman down. Instead, inspired by John Van Vleck’s teaching, Jones accepted a position at Harvard University. He spent almost fifty years there, teaching electronics. His own work for his first twenty years there revolved around magnetism, but he then took up optics. At the end of the interview Jones discusses his insights into William Shockley and the deterioration of their relationship; the development of semiconductor electronics; his own theory of a ―planar metaphor‖ giving rise to a host of technological development; the importance of crystal growth and the lesson of semiconductors, viz. have good material; the underappreciated importance of a systematic, if time-consuming, approach in science as evidenced by Bell Labs’ ten-year development of laser diodes. He describes how his reading of Leslie Berlin’s recent book about Robert Noyce has led him to renew acquaintanceships with some of the other early scientists at Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory. He concludes by reiterating that Shockley, at least ―one of the most complicated‖ scientists of the time, made invaluable contributions to physics. INTERVIEWER David C. Brock is a senior research fellow with the Center for Contemporary History and Policy of the Chemical Heritage Foundation. As an historian of science and technology, he specializes in oral history, the history of instrumentation, and the history of semiconductor science, technology, and industry. Brock has studied the philosophy, sociology, and history of science at Brown University, the University of Edinburgh, and Princeton University (respectively and chronologically). His most recent publication is Understanding Moore’s Law: Four Decades of Innovation (Philadelphia: Chemical Heritage Press), 2006, which he edited and to which he contributed. TABLE OF CONTENTS Early Years 1 Family background. Childhood in Oakland, California. Father’s occupation. Love of atomic and nuclear physics. Building an oscilloscope. School. College Years 3 Attends University of California, Berkeley. Works in Walter Knight’s lab. Interested in nuclear magnetic resonance. Becoming interested in studying. Joy of research. Graduate School Years 4 Employment situation in electronics after World War II. Attends graduate school at Berkeley. Carson Jeffries’s lab. Thesis on electron transport in a molecular afterglow. Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory Years 6 Korean War’s effect on demand for electronics. Job offer from Bell Telephone Laboratories. Unusual recruitment effort by William Shockley. Shockley’s difficult personality. Four-layer diode. Silicon. Crystal growth. Scientists in Shockley lab. Stressful, competitive atmosphere in lab. Jones’s wish to return to main interest, electromagnetic theory. Arnold Beckman’s attempt to hire Jones. Harvard University Years 29 ―Decompression.‖ Influence of John Van Vleck. Teaching electronics. Taking up optics. More insights into Shockley’s personality and lab management. Deterioration of Jones-Shockley relationship after Jones’s ―defection.‖ Importance of crystal growth. Bell Labs’ contrasting approach to science: methodical, systematic. ―Planar metaphor.‖ Development of semiconductor electronics. Renewing acquaintanceships with first scientists at Shockley. Index 37 INTERVIEWEE: R. Victor Jones INTERVIEWER: David C. Brock LOCATION: Telephone Conference DATE: 18 April 2006 BROCK: This is an interview with R. Victor Jones conducted by David Brock by telephone, on 18 April 2006. Professor Jones, let’s begin with your personal background. I read that you got both your undergraduate degree and your doctoral degree in physics from UC Berkeley [University of California, Berkeley]. Are you a native Californian? JONES: I grew up in Oakland [California] so Berkeley was a great opportunity for me. BROCK: May I ask you a little bit about your family background such as your father's vocation and the development of your earliest interest in science? JONES: My parents were Welsh immigrants. They came here individually in their early twenties, and met in Oakland’s Welsh community. My father was a machinist, and I learned many mechanical skills from him which I have found useful over my lifetime. I have always considered myself an experimental physicist and I do feel there was some resonance in our interests. [In the year before his death, my father enjoyed visiting my lab at Berkeley a couple of times.] BROCK: Was building your own equipment a large part of your experimental career? JONES: Yes, I have always enjoyed that. However, my interest in building things figured in a disastrous way in the Shockley [Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory] experience. BROCK: Did you go through the public education system in Oakland? JONES:
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