Nobel Prize Recipient. William Bradford Shockley, an American physicist, received world-wide recognition for being awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics. He co-shared the covet award with two other Americans, John Bardeen and Walter H. Brattain. According to the Nobel Prize committee, the award was given "for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect." In 1947 Bardeen and Brattain produced a semiconductor amplifier, which was further developed by Shockley. The component was named a "transistor". He received six nominations for the Nobel candidacy starting in 1954. Born the son of an American mining engineer, his parents returned to the United States from England in 1913. After finishing his early education in the California public school system, he earned a Bachelors of Science degree from the California Institute of Technology in 1932. Entering the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he obtained his Ph.D. in 1936, with the thesis on the energy band structure of sodium chloride. He joined Bell Telephone Laboratories the same year, remaining there until 1955. During World War II, he was Research Director of the Anti-submarine Warfare Operations Research Group and after the war, he served as Expert Consultant in the Office of the Secretary for War. In 1946, he received the National Medal of Merit for his war work. He resigned his post of Director of the Transistor Physics Department to enter in the business venture of becoming Director of the Shockley Semi-conductor Laboratory of Beckman Instruments at Mountain View, California, for research development and production of new transistor and other semiconductor devices. After this unsuccessful business venture, in 1963 he was named first Alexander M. Poniatoff Professor of Engineering Science at Stanford University, where he was professor-at-large in engineering and applied sciences. During this time at Stanford University, he became involved with publicly promoting eugenics, an unpopular practice aimed at improving the genetic quality of a human population, which measures one race against another. He retired from Stanford University professor emeritus in 1975. In 1982 he was a candidate for an unsuccessful run as the United States Senator from California. Besides the Nobel Prize, he received in 1953 the Comstock Prize in Physics of the National Academy of Sciences and from the American Physical Society, received the first Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize. In 1963 he received the Holley Medal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Wilhelm Exner Medal from the Austrian Industry Association. He was named by "Time" magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century and in recognizing the 150th anniversary of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the newspaper "Boston Globe" listed in 2011 the top scientific 150 MIT graduates with him being third. His first marriage gave him a son and a daughter, who were both very successful. Later, he remarried after a divorce. Publicly promoting eugenics cause him to become estranged from his family and old friends, including his children to the point, that they learned of his death in a newspaper obituary. He died of prostate cancer in 1989. His 2006 biography "Broken Genius: The Rise and Fall of William Shockley, Creator of the Electronic Age" was written by Joel N. Shurkin.
Nobel Prize Recipient. William Bradford Shockley, an American physicist, received world-wide recognition for being awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics. He co-shared the covet award with two other Americans, John Bardeen and Walter H. Brattain. According to the Nobel Prize committee, the award was given "for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect." In 1947 Bardeen and Brattain produced a semiconductor amplifier, which was further developed by Shockley. The component was named a "transistor". He received six nominations for the Nobel candidacy starting in 1954. Born the son of an American mining engineer, his parents returned to the United States from England in 1913. After finishing his early education in the California public school system, he earned a Bachelors of Science degree from the California Institute of Technology in 1932. Entering the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he obtained his Ph.D. in 1936, with the thesis on the energy band structure of sodium chloride. He joined Bell Telephone Laboratories the same year, remaining there until 1955. During World War II, he was Research Director of the Anti-submarine Warfare Operations Research Group and after the war, he served as Expert Consultant in the Office of the Secretary for War. In 1946, he received the National Medal of Merit for his war work. He resigned his post of Director of the Transistor Physics Department to enter in the business venture of becoming Director of the Shockley Semi-conductor Laboratory of Beckman Instruments at Mountain View, California, for research development and production of new transistor and other semiconductor devices. After this unsuccessful business venture, in 1963 he was named first Alexander M. Poniatoff Professor of Engineering Science at Stanford University, where he was professor-at-large in engineering and applied sciences. During this time at Stanford University, he became involved with publicly promoting eugenics, an unpopular practice aimed at improving the genetic quality of a human population, which measures one race against another. He retired from Stanford University professor emeritus in 1975. In 1982 he was a candidate for an unsuccessful run as the United States Senator from California. Besides the Nobel Prize, he received in 1953 the Comstock Prize in Physics of the National Academy of Sciences and from the American Physical Society, received the first Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize. In 1963 he received the Holley Medal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Wilhelm Exner Medal from the Austrian Industry Association. He was named by "Time" magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century and in recognizing the 150th anniversary of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the newspaper "Boston Globe" listed in 2011 the top scientific 150 MIT graduates with him being third. His first marriage gave him a son and a daughter, who were both very successful. Later, he remarried after a divorce. Publicly promoting eugenics cause him to become estranged from his family and old friends, including his children to the point, that they learned of his death in a newspaper obituary. He died of prostate cancer in 1989. His 2006 biography "Broken Genius: The Rise and Fall of William Shockley, Creator of the Electronic Age" was written by Joel N. Shurkin.
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/21219520/william_bradford-shockley: accessed
), memorial page for William Bradford Shockley (13 Feb 1910–12 Aug 1989), Find a Grave Memorial ID 21219520, citing Alta Mesa Memorial Park, Palo Alto,
Santa Clara County,
California,
USA;
Maintained by Find a Grave.
Add Photos for William Bradford Shockley
Fulfill Photo Request for William Bradford Shockley
Photo Request Fulfilled
Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request
There is an open photo request for this memorial
Are you adding a grave photo that will fulfill this request?
Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s).
Oops, something didn't work. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again.
Make sure that the file is a photo. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced.
All photos uploaded successfully, click on the <b>Done button</b> to see the photos in the gallery.
General photo guidelines:
Photos larger than 8.0 MB will be optimized and reduced.
Each contributor can upload a maximum of 5 photos for a memorial.
A memorial can have a maximum of 20 photos from all contributors.
The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional 10 photos (for a total of 30 on the memorial).
Include gps location with grave photos where possible.
No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments.)
You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial.
Memorial Photos
This is a carousel with slides. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel.
Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried.
Show Map
If the memorial includes GPS coordinates, simply click 'Show Map' to view the gravesite location within the cemetery. If no GPS coordinates are available, you can contribute by adding them if you know the precise location.
Photos
For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab.
Photos Tab
All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer.
Flowers
Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button.
Family Members
Family members linked to this person will appear here.
Related searches
Use the links under See more… to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc.
Sponsor This Memorial
Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option.
Share
Share this memorial using social media sites or email.
Save to
Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print.
Edit or Suggest Edit
Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager.
Have Feedback
Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you.
You may not upload any more photos to this memorial
"Unsupported file type"
Uploading...
Waiting...
Success
Failed
This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial
This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial
Invalid File Type
Uploading 1 Photo
Uploading 2 Photos
1 Photo Uploaded
2 Photos Uploaded
Added by
GREAT NEWS! There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery.
Sorry! There are no volunteers for this cemetery. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request.
Enter numeric value
Enter memorial Id
Year should not be greater than current year
Invalid memorial
Duplicate entry for memorial
You have chosen this person to be their own family member.
Reported!
This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates.
0% Complete
Saved
Sign in or Register
Sign in to Find a Grave
Sign-in to link to existing account
There is a problem with your email/password.
There is a problem with your email/password.
There is a problem with your email/password.
We encountered an unknown problem. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists contact Find a Grave.
We’ve updated the security on the site. Please reset your password.
Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. Please contact Find a Grave at [email protected] if you need help resetting your password.
This account has been disabled. If you have questions, please contact [email protected]
This account has been disabled. If you have questions, please contact [email protected]
Email not found
Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person.
Sign in to your existing Find a Grave account. You’ll only have to do this once—after your accounts are connected, you can sign in using your Ancestry sign in or your Find a Grave sign in.
We found an existing Find a Grave account associated with your email address. Sign in below with your Find a Grave credentials to link your Ancestry account. After your accounts are connected you can sign in using either account.
Please enter your email to sign in.
Please enter your password to sign in.
Please enter your email and password to sign in.
There is a problem with your email/password.
A system error has occurred. Please try again later.
A password reset email has been sent to EmailID. If you don't see an email, please check your spam folder.
We encountered an unknown problem. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists contact Find a Grave.
Password Reset
Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code.
Registration Options
Welcome to Find a Grave
Create your free account by choosing an option below.
or
Ancestry account link
To create your account, Ancestry will share your name and email address with Find a Grave. To continue choose an option below.
or
If you already have a Find a Grave account, please sign in to link to Ancestry®.
New Member Registration
Email is mandatory
Email and Password are mandatory
This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Resend Activation Email
Your password is not strong enough
Invalid Email
You must agree to Terms and Conditions
Account already exists
Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox
Internal Server error occurred
If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map
You must select an email preference
We have sent you an activation email
Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters.
We just emailed an activation code to
Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account.
cemeteries found in will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
Within 5 miles of your location.
Within 5 kilometers of your location.
0 cemeteries found in .
0 cemeteries found.
Add a cemetery to fulfill photo requests
You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below.
Search above to list available cemeteries.
Getting location…
Loading...
Loading...
No cemeteries found
Find a Grave Video Tutorials
Default Language
Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [email protected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. Thanks for your help!
Preferred Language
We have set your language to based on information from your browser.