In Augus t 1957 William Shockleywas recrui ting s taff for hisPalo
Alto, Cali fornia, start-up, Shockley Semiconduc tor Laboratory.
Shockley had been part of the Bell Labs team that invented the transistor. He had quit his job and come west to start his own company, telling people his goal was to make a million dollars.
Everyone thought he was crazy. Shockley knew he wasn't.
Unlike a lot of the people at Bell Labs, he knew the transistor was going to be big.
Shockley had an idea about how to make transistors c heaply. He wa s going to f abric a te them out of si li con. He had come to this valley, south of San Francisco, to start production.
He felt like hewas on the cusp of history, in the right place at the right time. All that he needed was the right people.
Shockleywas leaving nothingto c hance.
Tod a y's in ter vi ew wa s J i m Gibb ons . Hewa s a young guy, earl y twenti es . He already had a Stanford Ph.D. He had s tudied a t
Cambridgetoo - on a Fulbri ght sc holars hip he'dwon.
Gibbons was si tting in front of hi m ri ght now, in Shockley's
Quonset hut of fice. Shockley picked up his s topwa tch. In Augus t 1957 William Shockleywas recrui ting s taff for hisPalo
Alto, Cali fornia, start-up, Shockley Semiconduc tor Laboratory.
Shockley had been part of the Bell Labs team that invented the transistor. He had quit his job and come west to start his own company, telling people his goal was to make a million dollars.
Everyone thought he was crazy. Shockley knew he wasn't.
Unlike a lot of the people at Bell Labs, he knew the transistor was going to be big.
Shockley had an idea about how to make transistors c heaply. He wa s going to f abric a te them out of si li con. He had come to this valley, south of San Francisco, to start production.
He felt like hewas on the cusp of history, in the right place at the right time. All that he needed was the right people.
Shockleywas leaving nothingto c hance.
Tod a y's in ter vi ew wa s J i m Gibb ons . Hewa s a young guy, earl y twenti es . He already had a Stanford Ph.D. He had s tudied a t
Cambridgetoo - on a Fulbri ght sc holars hip he'dwon.
Gibbons was si tting in front of hi m ri ght now, in Shockley's
Quonset hut of fice. Shockley picked up his s topwa tch.