Tragedy and the Transistor Physics World
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
physicsworldarchive.iop.org Tragedy and the transistor Ivan K Schuller From Physics World July 2006 © IOP Publishing Ltd 2008 ISSN: 0953-8585 Institute of Physics Publishing Bristol and Philadelphia Downloaded on Mon Oct 20 22:59:45 BST 2008 [132.239.69.137] Reviews physicsweb.org number, then a lot of mass is lost too. would have said to luscious Matilda that time a very young-looking 27 year “But it isn’t, is it? It comes down to the that “c is in E = mc2 because of Ein- old. All in all, this is a play for which c, doesn’t it,” she concludes correctly. stein’s method for synchronizing that hackneyed caveat emptor holds: Then Matilda asks the $64 000 clocks using light signals. And here’s any coincidence with characters living question: “Why did he [Einstein] how that goes, babe...”. or dead is purely coincidental. choose the speed of light?” “Who My New York Bronx ear detected knows? I don’t know. Albert possibly Feynman speaking Brooklynese, not Arthur I Miller is Emeritus Professor of knows. But it’s also possible that he Long Islandese. But this is just hair- History and Philosophy of Science at doesn’t, precisely. I’m guessing it was splitting for a UK audience. Could you University College London, e-mail urchaim@ a guess,” replies Feynman, in Feyn- imagine an American actor doing ucl.ac.uk. His latest book Empire of the Stars: manese, reminding us of the cartoon Wayne Rooney? Feynman is presen- Friendship, Obsession and Betrayal in in which Einstein writes “E = ma2” on ted undeservedly as a geeky scientist, the Quest for Black Holes (reviewed in a blackboard, crosses it out and writes and the actor playing him is a bit long Physics World October 2005) was shortlisted under it “E=mb2”. The real Feynman in the tooth for someone who was at for the Aventis Prize Ivan K Schuller bution, however, was the invention of the transistor, without which compu- ters, the Internet and so much of what makes up the modern world would be impossible. It is clear that he knew Tragedy and the transistor that replacing the original vacuum tubes with solid-state devices would be extremely important, although probably not even he imagined the subsequent growth of Silicon Valley. While the first transistor – the so- called “point contact” transistor – was invented by John Bardeen and Walter Brattain in 1947, it was Shockley’s ideas that prevailed and his designs are essentially the ones still in use today. Bardeen, Brattain and Shock- ley shared the 1956 Nobel prize for their “discovery of the transistor effect” while all three were working at Bell Labs. Fred English Photographs/AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives In 1955 Shockley left Bell Labs to set up the first semiconductor com- pany in what is now Silicon Valley. He hired people using a combination of intuition, theories of creativity, statis- tical analysis and psychological tests. Many of those that he employed at Shockley Semiconductor went on to establish major companies of their own or make significant contributions to science and technology. But while Controversial thinker William Bradford Shockley was a sci- 1936. During the Second World War Shockley certainly had a knack for The transistor entist to the extreme. He was also a he helped to develop what is now identifying creative people, he appar- changed the world, genius. His invention of the transis- known as “operations research” – the ently did not know how to interact but Shockley later tor changed the world, opening up application of statistical methods to with and manage them, which led to became infamous for new areas of science and technology, solving complex problems, such as the downfall of his company within a his views on race. and he is even credited with the es- those in warfare. His research helped couple of years. tablishment of Silicon Valley. He suc- redesign air strikes against the Nazi When his first wife became ill with Broken Genius: cessfully attacked problem after forces with conclusive results in fa- cancer, Shockley saw it as another The Rise and Fall of problem with the conviction that any vour of the Allies. One of his simpler research problem to be solved and William Shockley, question – whether from science or solutions – reducing the detonation contributed substantially to decisions Creator of the society – could be answered using the depth of anti-submarine charges from about her treatment. Although Shur- Electronic Age scientific method. But he ended his 75 feet to 35 feet – increased the hit kin implies that he was motivated Joel N Shurkin life friendless and discredited for his rate by a factor of five. He was even purely by the intellectual challenge 2006 Palgrave opinions on race and eugenics. Joel the first, together with James Fisk, to and not a deep concern for his wife, Macmillan 312pp Shurkin, a Pulitzer Prize-winning sci- develop the concept of controlled this is an extremely negative interpre- £19.99/$27.95hb ence writer, is the first to trace this nuclear fission. But this work was so tation of the facts. As a scientist, controversial life. highly classified that even the sci- Shockley must have known that let- Shockley was born in London in entists from the Manhattan Project ting emotions interfere does not lead 1910, but was raised in California and did not know about it and had to “re- to the best scientific or medical decis- obtained his PhD from the Massa- invent the wheel”. ions. This type of cold analysis may be chusetts Institute of Technology in Shockley’s most important contri- hard to understand but it is second 36 Physics World July 2006 physicsweb.org Reviews Shockley nature for a scientist. Shockley even ies, publicly debated opponents and ken”. The book also suffers slightly ended his life applied statistical methods to analyse even ran for the US Senate based on from some scientific errors and a ten- his second wife’s love letters! these ideas. Clearly this became an dency to novelize historical conversa- friendless and At the personal level Shockley was overriding obsession – but is it not the tions; it would also perhaps benefit discredited a contradictory and perhaps misun- case that all creative people are a lit- from the inclusion of some diagrams for his opinions derstood man. Some have implied that tle obsessed? Perhaps the best way to and explanation of the trickier scien- he walked out on his first wife while summarize this part of Shockley’s life tific terminology. But on the whole it on race she was still fighting cancer. His rela- is in the words of Richard Goldsby, a is very readable, and contains many and eugenics tionship with his children was rocky, black chemist who called Shockley “a revelations based on Shurkin’s exclu- and even when he became terminally racist but not a bigot” – a racist for sive access to roomfuls of previously ill with cancer, he requested that they believing in the possibility of predict- unseen private documents. not be told. But his second wife found ing the behaviour of populations, but Shurkin manages to humanize and him “romantic” and “charming”, and not a bigot because he did not despise bring some understanding to the con- she was his faithful companion until other races. tradictory and complex character that his death in 1989. And although he had Shurkin’s book masterfully walks was Shockley. Yet ultimately Shockley serious conflicts with many friends and the fine line between presenting remains a mystery. How could it be collaborators, including the co-inven- Shockley as a purely evil character that after all the problems that he had tors of the transistor and his employees and legitimizing his more controver- with employees, friends and family he at Shockley Semiconductor, he could sial theories. According to Shurkin, did not realize that something was also be generous and helpful to young the problem with Shockley’s later amiss and that he was not successful? researchers and students. obsession with dysgenics lies not in It must be that he was a prime exam- Shockley spent the last period of his what IQ measures, but what it does ple of Sham’s extension of the uncer- life worrying about what he thought not – such as creativity in the arts and tainty principle that states that “the was his most important work: dysgen- sports – and also in how Shockley’s knowledge of physics and the know- ics. He believed that within a quarter ideas imply a genetic determinism ledge of life are conjugate variables”. of a century humanity would become and leave themselves open to misuse. a race of “morons” due to anti-evo- While Broken Genius reveals that Ivan K Schuller is in the physics department lutionary forces in modern society. Shockley was opinionated, single- of the University of California, San Diego, Furthermore, he claimed that there is minded, obsessive, competitive and e-mail [email protected]. He has recently a clear statistical relationship between sometimes lonely and unhappy, it pre- co-written, with Adam Smith, a play about the IQ and race. He made statistical stud- sents no evidence that he was “bro- life of Shockley Multiple-Hit TDC/Time-Multi- scaler. The new P7889 offers MAxesTM – Multi-Axis NNEEWW 100 ps time resolution Superconducting Magnet Systems The P7889 analyzes the rising or falling edge of input pulses with 100 ps time resolution. Max. input rates to 10 Gbit/s ● NEW!! Time-Interval analysis with 100 ps precision by analyzing both the rising and MAxesTM systems are falling edge !! available in 2 or 3-axis ● PCI-board (64 bit) with on-board FIFO for geometries.